The Lausiac History Of Palladius

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Palladlus

The Lausiac history of Palladlus

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Palladlus

The Lausiac history of Palladlus

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TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

SERIES I
GREEK TEXTS

THE LAUSIAC
HISTORY OF PALLADIUS

MAP OF EGYPT

shewing the Places mentioned
m the

TR5NSMTOKJ OP
UTEEATURE .

GREEK TEXT5

TFEIAUSlACHISTORf

SuWRIXWTHERCIARKEBB

SOCIETY FOR. PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. London
The Macmillan. Gompanu .

i i

First published 1918

PREFACE

MY interest in monasticism was first awakened in
1904, when I was a theological student at Cambridge,
by the publication of the second volume of Abbot
Cuthbert Butler's Lausiac History of Palladius. The
appearance of a new work of scholarship, however
excellent, would have meant little to me at that time,
but my imagination was struck by the dinner which the
theological teachers 'at Cambridge combined to give
the author in honour of the completion of his arduous
task. Somehow I had not associated monks with dinner-
parties, and they appeared to me henceforward in a more
human and attractive guise. In 1908 I began to study
monasticism, taking Abbot Butler's works as my guide,
and have never since lost interest in the subject. During
the past year I have tried, during the few leisure hours
which were alone possible under war conditions, to
forget the tragedies of the time by making a trans-
lation of the Lausiac History. I do not know whether
an ordinary critical text, where an editor merely gives
the finishing touches to the labour of his predecessors,
is copyright so far as the right of making a translation
is concerned. But in this case the text belongs to
Abbot Butler in a special way, since before him all was
chaos. 1 am grateful therefore to him, and the Cam-
bridge University Press his publisher, for readily granting

'

viii PREFACE

permission to make the present version. There is
nothing original in my book ; if it succeeds in popular-
ising the work of the Abbot of Downside, on whom the
mantle of the great Benedictine scholars of old has
descended, my purpose is accomplished.

To a lesser extent I am indebted to M. Lucot's
excellent edition and translation. Occasionally he seems
to me to have missed the meaning, but his French
clarity of vision has frequently given me the clue to the
right English rendering.

Finally I must express my gratitude to the Society
of which I have the honour to be Secretary for under-
taking the publication of this work at a time when it
might have been tempted to postpone all such projects
until a more convenient season.

May 1918.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

PREFACE' Vii

INTRODUCTION 15

I. THE AUTHOR AND HIS BOOK . 15

II. THE TEXT OF THE HISTORY . 17

III. EARLY MONASTICISM 2O

IV. HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE BOOK 24
V. ITS SPIRITUAL VALUE . . 26

VI. THE PRESENT EDITION . . 32

VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY .... 33

VIII. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . . 34

TEXT: INTRODUCTORY PIECES ... 35

PROLOGUE 39

I. ISIDORE . ...... 47

II. DOROTHEUS ...... 48

III. POTAMLENA ...... 50

IV. DIDYMUS ...... 51

V. ALEXANDRA ...... 53

VI. THE RICH VIRGIN 54

VII. THE MONKS OF NITRIA . . . -57

VIII. AMOUN OF NITRIA 59

IX. OR . . - . . . , 6l

CONTENTS

CHAP.

X.

XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.

PAMBO 62

AMMONIUS 64

BENJAMIN ...... 66

APOLLONIUS 67

PAESIUS AND ISAIAS .... 67

MACARIUS THE YOUNGER ... 69

NATHANAEL ?O

MACARIUS OF EGYPT . . . - 73

MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA . . - 77

MOSES THE ROBBER .... 86

PAUL 9

EULOGIUS AND THE CRIPPLE . . 91

PAUL THE SIMPLE . . , 96

PACHON 101

STEPHEN ...... 103

VALENS 104

HERON 106

PTOLEMY ....... 107

A VIRGIN WHO FELL . Io8

ELIAS 109

DOROTHEUS IIO

PIAMOUN . . . . . .Ill

PACHOMIUS AND THE TABENNESIOTS . 112

THE TABENNESIOT NUNS . . . Jl6

THE NUN WHO FEIGNED MADNESS . Jl8
JOHN" OF LYCOPOLIS . . .120

POSIDONIUS ..... 125

SARAPION THE SINDONITE . . .127

EVAGRIUS 132

PIOR ....... 1^8

CONTENTS

XI

CHAP.

XL. EPHRAIM ....

XLI. HOLY WOMEN

XLII. JULIAN ,

XLIII. ADOLIUS ....

XLIV. INNOCENT ....

XLV. PHILOROMUS

XLVI. MELANIA THE ELDER .

XLVII. CHRONIUS AND PAPHNUTIUS

XLVIII. ELPIDIUS ....

XLIX. SISINNIUS ....

L. GADDANAS ....

LI. ELIAS ....

LII. SABAS ....

LIII. ABRAMIUS ....

LIV. MELANIA THE ELDER .

LV. SILVANIA (MELANIA continued)

LVI, OLYMPIAS ....

LVII. CANDIDA ....

LVIII. THE MONKS OF ANTING^

LIX. AMMA TALIS AND TAOR

LX. COLLYTHUS

LXI. MELANIA THE YOUNGER

LXII. PAMMACHIUS

LXIII. THE VIRGIN AND ATHANASIUS

LXIV. JULIANA ....

LXV. HIPPOLYTUS

LXVI. VERUS THE EX-COUNT

LXVII. MAGNA ....

LXVIII, THE COMPASSIONATE MONK .

LXIX. THE NUN WHO FELL ,

PAGE

139
141

142

143

144

145
147
149
154
156
156
157
157
157
158

1 6O

161
162
163
165
166
167
169
169
171
171

173
174
174

175

xii CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

LXX. A READER UNJUSTLY ACCUSED . .176

LXXI. THE BROTHER WHO IS WITH THE WRITER 178

INDICES (i) GENERAL . . * . iBl

(ii) PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE

TEXT . . , .183

(iii) REFERENCES TO ANCIENT

WRITERS . . .185

(iv) MODERN WRITERS- . .187

MAP OF MONASTIC EGYPT To face title

HITHER, and with one accord
Sing the servants of the Lord :
Sing each great ascetic sire ;
Antony shall lead the choir.

Egypt, hail, thou faithful strand !
Hail, thou holy Libyan land !
Nurturing for the realm on high
Such a glorious company !

By what skill of mortal tongue
Shall your wondrous acts be sung?
All the conflicts of the soul,
All your struggles to the goal ;
And your virtue's prize immense,
And your victories over sense,
How perpetual watch ye kept
Over passions, prayed and wept j
Yea, like very angels came,
Visible in earthly frame.

Hymn for the Friday before Quinquagesima.
St. Theopkctnes. Translated byj. M. Ncale.

INTRODUCTION

I. THE AUTHOR AND HIS BOOK

IN the fourth and fifth centuries of our era Egypt had
come to be regarded with great reverence throughout
Christendom as a Holy Land of piety. Pilgrims came
from all parts to visit the saints who lived there, and
several wrote descriptions of what they saw and heard,
which are among the most interesting documents of the
early Church. Palestine was so near that it was usually
included in their tour ; the glamour of its sacred sites,
which remains with us still when that of Egypt has faded
into oblivion, was already potent. But Palestine was
clearly second to Egypt in the affections of the pilgrims.

Thejprevailing sentiment was expressed by Chrysostom
with admirable clearness (Horn, in Matt. viii.). It was
eminently appropriate, he explains, that the child Jesus
should be taken to Egypt to escape Herod. Palestine
persecutes Him, Egypt receives Him. This typifies the
position Egypt was to occupy in the development of the
Church. The land which had oppressed the children
of Israel, had known a Pharaoh, had worshipped cats,
was destined to be more fervent than any other, to have
its towns and even its deserts peopled by armies of
saints living the life of angels, and to boast the greatest,
after the apostles, of all saints, the famous Antony.
Palladius, the author of our book, who was Destined
J5

16 INTRODUCTION

to be Chrysostom's devoted adherent, made a pilgrimage
to this holy land, like so many others, and stayed there
many years. The following is an outline of his life, with
the dates as established by Butler.

He was born in Galatia in 363 or 3645 and dedicated
himself to the monastic life in 386 or a little later. In
388 he went to Alexandria ; as Paul went up to Jerusalem
to see Peter, James, and John, so, he says in the
Prologue, did he go to Egypt to see the saints for him-
self. About 390 he passed on to Nitria, and a year
later to a district in the desert known as Cellia from the
multitude of its cells, where he spent nine years, first
with Macarius and then with Evagrius. At the end of
the time, his health having broken down, he went to
Palestine in search of a cooler climate. In 400 he was
consecrated bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia, and soon
became involved in the controversies which centred
round St. John Chrysostom. The year 405 found him
in Rome, whither he had gone to plead the cause of
Chrysostom, his fidelity to whom resulted in his exile in
the following year to Syene and the Thebaid, where he
gained first-hand knowledge of another part of Egypt.
In 412-413 he was restored, after a sojourn among the
monks of the Mount of Olives. His great work was
written in 419-420 and was called the Lausiac History,
being composed for Lausus, chamberlain at the court
of Theodosius II. Palladius was also in all probability
the author of the Dialogue on the Life of Chrysostom,
He died some time in the decade 420-430,

The character of the man stands out clearly in the
History. He was sincere, simple-minded and not a
little credulous. His deep religious fervour, of the
ascetic type, needless to say, appears throughout the
book, and especially in the concluding chapter, which
almost attains eloquence. But he had a fund of good

INTRODUCTION 17

sense, so we learn from the Prologue, which predisposes
us to a favourable judgment on the rest of the book.
What could be saner, for example, than his summing
up of the question of teetotalism : "To drink wine with
reason is better than to drink water with pride " (Prol.
10)? We need not attach much importance to the
accusation of Origenism which has been the slur on his
reputation. If he admired Origen, that great and original
thinker, it will hardly redound to his discredit to-day.
And he was in good company in his own day. Saints
such as Basil, the two Gregories and Chrysostom shared
his tendencies; if Chrysostom the master is forgiven
his Origenism, Palladius the disciple may be forgiven
also,

II. THE TEXT OF THE HISTORY

It has been the lot of many a scholar to grapple with
the difficulties of an ancient text so successfully that the
result of his labours has been accepted as substantially
representing the original work of the author : few editors
indeed can be credited with an achievement equal to
that of Abbot Butler, who brought order out of confusion
and rescued for the historian a document which had
been regarded with the utmost suspicion. His con-
clusions were at once recognized as correct, and much
that had been written on early monasticism became
obsolete, based as it was on an erroneous estimate of
the original authorities. 1

Butler was confronted by three main documents, each
with its own textual history.

A. The document which was accepted till recently as
the Lausiac History, called by Butler the Long Recen-
sion. It appears in a Latin form in Rosweyd's Vitae

1 I have thought it unnecessary for the purposes of this ^edition
to discuss what may be termed the Weingartcn school of criticism.

iS INTRODUCTION

Patrum(i6i$ and 1628), and includes the History of the
Monks in Egypt (see C below). In 1624 a Greek text
was published by du Due purporting to be the original
of Rosweyd's Latin, though in reality it was patched up
from various sources. This is the text which, with some
additions, is reprinted in Migne, Patrologia Graeca>
xxxiv.

B. Butler's ShortRecension, called originally Paradisus
Heradidis, printed by Rosweyd in his appendix.

C. The Historia Monachomm in Aegypto, which was
till recently supposed to have been written in Latin by
Rufinus, but turns out to be Rufinus' translation of a
Greek original compiled by an anonymous writer and
describing a visit paid by a party of seven, in which
Rufinus was not included, to the Egyptian ascetics in
394-395. The Greek text has been edited by Preuschen,
and a text of Rufinus' Latin version forms part of the
Long Recension, as stated above. 1

Tillemont long ago had seen the lines on which the
problem was to be solved, but subsequent investigators
dismissed his suggestion as impossible, and it was left
for Butler to show with a wealth of argument the true
relations of the documents.

His solution is briefly this : A (the Long Recension)
B (the Short Recension) + C (Historia Monadiorum).
B is not an abridgment of A, nor is A Palladius'
second edition of B. In Sozomen, who used the
Lausiac History (see Hist. Eccl. I. 13 f., III. 14, VI.
28 fT., etc,), there are clear traces of B, also of C, none
whatever of A. The early versions, especially the Latin
and Syriac, confirm these results. There is no reason

1 Butler's arguments have not apparently won universal accept-
ance on this point, since Scott- Moncrieff, Paganism and Christi*
anity in Egypt (1913), p. 215, maintained that there is no doubt
Rufinus wrote the Greek original.

INTRODUCTION 19

to think that Palladius used Greek documents, or that
he translated from the Coptic.

Having established this fact, that the Latin version in
Rosweyd's appendix represents substantially the work of
Palladius, Butler proceeds to discuss which is the best
text of the Greek original of this. He finds that the
MSS, are divided as follows :

(i) The B group, giving the Short Recension as hitherto
printed.

(ii) A shorter and simpler text, which he calls the G
group.

(iii) An A group, which is composite of B and G.

Ruling out the A group according to the rules of
textual criticism, as between B and G, he pronounces in
favour of the latter, which is supported by Sozomen and
the versions, and is superior intrinsically as well. B is a
" metaphrastic " text, says Preuschen, and Butler styles it
" rhetorical, turgid and overladen*"

It remains to discover the best examples of the G text.
Butler finds these in a MS, in the National Library at
Paris (P) and one at Christ Church, Oxford (W). The
latter was not available until more than half of the text
had been printed, and therefore to get Butler's mature
judgment on the text of the earlier part a number of
readings from W given in the appendix must be substi-
. tuted for those of the text. The two MSS. are the
offspring of a common ancestor. " It is clear that P and
W have to serve as the basis of the text, pre-eminently W
where it is extant." Other MSS. are used in the main to
eliminate the eccentricities of P and W. Occasionally
neither are extant, and the printed text is Butler's critical
reconstruction from the other sources.

20 INTRODUCTION

III. EARLY MONASTICISM

The story of Egyptian monasticism is inevitably an
oft-told tale, and need not be repeated here, since sum-
maries of it are readily accessible. 1 All that will be
attempted is the emphasising of some points that might
be overlooked.

Asceticism was inherent in Christianity from the first; 2
it could hardly have been otherwise among the disciples
of Him Who had not where to lay His head. In i Cor-
inthians St. Paul teaches that in view of the shortness of
the time before the end the -unmarried state is preferable
to the married. 3 St. John, convinced that it was the last
hour, bade his little children keep themselves from idols,
a command which in practice involved renunciation of
the world. 4 We are therefore not surprised to find
asceticism a strong force in the early post-apostolic age.
There was as yet no formal separation from the world ;
devotees of both sexes lived at home and were described
as bearing "the whole yoke of the Lord." 5 When
monasticism underwent its great development in the
early part of the fourth century, it was but a making
explicit of what had been implicit in the Church from
its early days, and even, so it would seem, in the teaching
and example of our Saviour.

Two questions may be asked at this point : Why did
monasticism begin when it did ? Why did Egypt witness
its beginning rather than some other land such as Asia

1 See Butler, Lausiac History, I. 218-238, and Cambridge
Medieval History >, I. 521 f. ; art "Monasticism" in Encycl, of
Religion att& Ethics ; Duchesne y Histoire Ancienm de lEglise,
II. 485 f. ; Clarke, St. Basil the Great : a Study in Monasticism,
pp. 26-42; Hannay, The Spirit and Origin of Christian
Monasticism.

2 See Clarke, op. c#., pp. 1-15.

8 I Cor. vii. 29 and the whole chapter.

4 i Jn. ii. 18, v, 21 ; see Tert de Idol passim.

6 Didacke 6 ; c i Clem. 38, Ign. ad Potyc, 5.

INTRODUCTION 21

Minor, which was perhaps the most Christian part of the
empire at that time ?

In answering the first question one would be inclined
to attach importance to the tradition which connects the
origin of monasticism with the Decian persecution (c.
250), when many Christians fled from the settled parts of
Egypt to the surrounding deserts and remained there for
some time (Dionysius of Alexandria ap. Eus, H.E. VI.
42), Some at least of these must have been living the
ascetic life at home, which they would naturally continue
in the desert under more rigorous conditions. When a
later tradition affirms that certain of these remained in
the desert permanently and became the first Christian
hermits, it is intrinsically so probable that one is justified
in concluding that the Decian persecution was the
historic occasion which led to the origin of monasticism, 1

Paradoxical as such an argument may seem at first
sight, the cessation of persecutions may be adduced as
a main cause of the great development of monasticism.
The deliverance of the Church from this danger coincided
with the adoption of Christianity as the State religion,
the swamping of old landmarks by a flood of imperfectly
instructed adherents, and the lowering of standards in
the direction of worldliness, Monasticism in one of its
aspects was the reaction of the sterner spirits against the
secularisation of the fourth-century Church. Hitherto
there had been an intermittent warfare of the State
against the Church which expressed itself in persecution.
When persecution ceased, a need was felt on the part of
the Church for a " moral equivalent for war " ; this the
Church found in monasticism, which represented the
Church militant against worldliness within.

If we turn to our second question, it is not hard to see

1 See Eus. Comm. in Ps. Ixxxiii. 4; Jerome, Vita Pauli ;
Soz. T. 12 ; and Butler, I. 230.

22 INTRODUCTION

why Egypt, rather than some other country, was the
motherland of monasticism. The solitudes of Asia
Minor with, their rigorous winter climate were not suit-
able places for ascetic experiments. Egypt, however,
was ideal for this purpose. The climate was warm and
practically rainless, the desert was never far away from
the narrow strip of cultivable land, and the neighbouring
mountain ranges abounded in natural caves.

Another reason may be suggested. The recent dis-
coveries of papyri have thrown a flood of light upon the
conditions of life in ancient Egypt. We can trace the
ever-tightening hold of the Government upon the people
and the process by which the peasants became ascripli
glebae. 1 The process was at work in other provinces,
but Egypt was in the main docile, 2 had been paternally
governed since the days of the Ptolemies, and was of
great importance as the granary of Italy. Accordingly
the pressure of taxes and public burdens was greatest
in Egypt, and the temptation to escape from them by
running away became very strong. In the second and
third centuries whole districts became depopulated by
the flight of their inhabitants. Things became worse in
the fourth century. In 3 1 2 the village of Theadelphia
became "utterly deserted"; so did that of Philadelphia
in 359. The peasants ran away from their Intolerable
burdens. The word used for their retreat (dva^wp^orts) is
the same as that which describes the monks (avaxwp^rat,
anchorites). What some did from economic, others could
do from religious motives ; doubtless in some cases both
causes operated. 3

1 The note in Lk, ii. 3, that all went to be enrolled, each to his
own city, so far from being unhistorical, is a valuable record of the
beginning of this process.

* In spite of turbulent outbreaks in the third century A.D.

3 See Mitteis-Wilcken, Grundzugeund Chnstomakhie der Pa$y~
ruskunfo, I. i. 324 f.

INTRODUCTION 23

Such an explanation seems far more plausible than
that which used to be given, according to which the
pagan monasticism of Egypt was the model for the
Christian institution. There is little to be said for such
a theory, which is indeed now generally abandoned.
The resemblance of the so-called monks of Sarapis to
the later Christian monks is merely superficial. 1

The solitary life, begun in the desert as described
above, was organised about 305 by St. Antony, who is
justly reckoned as the founder of Christian monachism.
Through the efforts of him and his disciples great colonies
of monks arose, the most famous of which were at Nitria
and Scete. The cells were grouped round a central
church, where services were held on Saturday and Sunday,
devotions otherwise being said in the individual cells.
The main feature of this type of monasticism was its
voluntary character ; each monk lived his own life, and
the monastery had a number of solitary lives lived in
common rather than a true common life.

The first coenobium^ or monastery of the common life,
was founded by Pachomius at Tabennisi sometime in
the years 315-320. Here Palladius found a federation
of monasteries constituting a true Order as understood
subsequently in the West, with obedience to the Rule
and the Superior as- the main principle. There is no
need to discuss the two systems here, since the reader
will find both modes of life fully described in the text
(see especially Chapters VII. and XXXII.).

By the side of the monks there were nuns of various
kinds. The purely solitary life was clearly inappropriate
to women, though it was attempted, as may be seen

1 For the /caT0%<u of Sarapis see Preusclien, Monchtum und
Sarapiskult (1903); Reitzenstein, Die Hellenistischen Mysterien-
religionem (1910), pp. 72-81 j Sethe, Sarapis und die sog&nannte
Kdroxoi de$ Sarapis (1913)- The last book I have not seen.

24 INTRODUCTION

from the story of Alexandra, who lived alone in a tomb
for ten years (Ch. V.). When women were gathered into
a monastery, the presence of men was necessary if only
to administer the sacraments. Convents of the Antonian
type existed, but the true common life for women was
found in the Pachomian nunneries, over the first of
which Pachomius 7 sister was abbess. These were closely
associated with the men's houses in a system of double
monasteries, which formed an economic whole, the
women, for example, making the men's clothes. This
institution, carefully safeguarded as it was and providing
protection for women in a rough age, fell into suspicion
in the East and was forbidden by Justinian.

Little need be said about Palestine. The monastic
life was introduced there early in the fourth century by
Hilarion, a disciple of Antony; the original impulse
continued, and the monasteries were mainly of the
Antonian type.

IV. HISTORICAL VALUE OF THE BOOK

No one would deny that Palladius reflects the age in
which he lived, the more faithfully because of his sim-
plicity and lack of originality. His casual allusions to
Church observances are of great value. Note, for
instance, the continued use of the Agape (XVI. 5), the
importance attached to frequent communion, a five
weeks' abstention being enough to deserve severe punish-
ment (XVII. 9), the offering of the Eucharist ifor the
dead (XXXIII. 4), the use of Holy Oil (XII. i, XVIII,
u) and Holy Water (XVII. 9) to effect cures, the Invo-
cation of Saints (LX. 2), the beginnings of the Rosary
(XX. i), and generally the great esteem in which the
Bible was held, large portions being learned by heart.

INTRODUCTION 25

But a novel may contain such historical data, and it
has been claimed that Palladius' History is little better
than a romance. We may disregard the earlier criticisms
of this kind, since Abbot Butler has answered them
satisfactorily, and confine ourselves to the most important
of recent books on the subject, Reitzenstein's Hellen-
istischen Wundererzahlungen (iQod). 1 He pays special
attention to the Lausiac History, and tries to prove that
some at least of the stories are old literary motives
formerly attached to pagan characters, Thus the tale
of Sarapion Sindonita was originally told of some Cynic
philosopher. It may be so, though the arguments are
not cogent, only this scholar is too ready to assume a
literary connection where none is needed. If the same
stories were told of Egyptian peasants, heathen and
Christian, the simplest explanation is that Egyptian
peasants behaved in much the same way, whether before
or after conversion, The common background of life
and thought is sufficient to explain the similarity of the
stories.

Palladius then tells what he saw and heard, his
reminiscences in fact of what happened in some cases
over twenty years previously. Under such conditions
the element of exaggeration and distortion cannot be
excluded. But there is no reason to doubt his good
faith when he describes what he saw for himself. Where
he reports hearsay he is naturally at the mercy of his
informants. Those who told him that a virgin hid
Athanasius in her house for six years (Ch. LXIII.) were
giving the exaggerated popular version of what had
happened many years ago.

There is one reason why Palladius' evidence has been
distrusted which is not very creditable to nineteenth-

1 On inquiry in 1914 I learned that the book was out of print,
and a revised edition was expected shortly.

26 INTRODUCTION

century scholars, namely, his conviction that he had
witnessed miraculous and supernatural events. It is
coming to be recognised that a fifth-century Christian
writer who did not believe in the miraculous would be
a portent which required explanation. There would be
little left of the history of the time if all the writers who
believed in contemporary miracles were ruled out as
unworthy of credence.

V. SPIRITUAL VALUE OF THE BOOK

The modern reader has to contend with certain
prejudices which hinder his proper appreciation of the
people depicted in the Lausiac History. To begin
with, there is the preoccupation with sexual temptations,
which will offend some. Not that this is unfamiliar to
the reader of modern literature, where there is enough
and to spare of such topics. But the Christian to-day,
resting upon the accumulated experience of the Church,
has learned that solitude is the worst possible condition
for a man troubled with such temptations, and is apt to
be impatient with the struggles of the solitaries. Doubt-
less the monks were often morbid in this matter, and it
requires an effort of sympathetic imagination to do
them justice* The background of their lives must not,
however, be forgotten. Their point of view is readily
intelligible when it is regarded as a necessary reaction
from the incredible corruption of the pagan society of
their day, with which even the Church was infected.
Thus the women who boasted that they had not had a
bath for years are not to be laughed at or reproached
for dirtiness. Their conduct appears in a new light
when compared with that of those who did take a bath,
the Christian ladies of Alexandria who defied all modesty

INTRODUCTION 27

in the public baths. 1 They sacrificed physical cleanli-
ness as a protest against moral uncleanness. And the
monks who fought with their passions under the hot
African sun and described their struggles with painful
frankness were doing the right thing under conditions
needlessly difficult. We who have a truer insight into
the psychology of temptation must not reproach those
who had not such knowledge.

Again, the demonology of the Lausiac History is at
times grotesque to modern eyes. In his poem "St.
Simon Stylites " Tennyson shows a just appreciation of
this side of early monachism. His description of the
saints is fully borne out by the records.

** Devils pluck'd my sleeve,
Abaddon and Asmodeus caught at me.
I smote them with the cross ; they swarmed again.
In bed like monstrous apes they crushed my chest :
They flapped my light out as I read : I saw
Their faces grow between me and my book :
With colt-like whinny and with hoggish whine
They burst my prayer."

But the heroic nature of the warfare is easily missed.
The ascetic went into the desert knowing that the
demons were awaiting him on their own ground. The
evil spirits had a special fondness for waterless places ;
they took up their abode among, the animals which
frequented ruins. 2 They were also identified with the
heathen gods, whose monuments and pictorial represen-
tations were to be found in the Egyptian desert. It
argued therefore no small degree of moral courage if the
monk went out alone to join battle with these potent

1 Clem. Al., Paed. III. 5 ; Cyprian, de Hob. Virg. 19.

2 Cf. Lev. xvi. 10 f. R.V; Isa. xxxiv. 14, R.V. marg. (Lilith
associated with the wild beasts) ; Mt. xii. 43.

28 INTRODUCTION

forces of evil We forget the squalor and shabbiness
of the Middle Ages in our admiration of the chivalry and
devotion which dared and accomplished great things,
and though we laugh at Don Quixote it is with a pang of
regret that the age of chivalry is giving place to the
centuries of materialism. Now the monks went into the
desert of Egypt to fight their battles in a spirit of
chivalry. Maybe they tilted at windmills sometimes,
but let us never forget that the battle was won, that their
life was a successful protest against corruption in the
Church, and that they handed the lamp of spirituality
down to posterity through ages which apart from them
were truly dark.

Tennyson was right in much of his poem, but surely
he was mistaken in making his typical ascetic speak in
so uniformly penitential a vein. The great monks must
have been very happy on the whole. Cold in winter,
scorched in summer, always hungry, tortured by visions,
yet they had the deep inward peace of knowing that
they had obeyed the call and were doing God J $ Will.
Dom Morin of Maredsous in Belgium, writing shortly
before the Great War, pointed out that this is the special
and inalienable happiness of the monk. " On pourra
m'expulser, comme tant d'autres, des murs paisibles du
cloitre, on pourra me priver de toutes les consolations de
la vie religieuse, on pourra disposer de moi de diverses
fagons impr^vues ; il est cependant une chose que jamais
on ne pourra me ravir, c'est le bonheur d'obfir : celui-
1&, il rn'accompagnera jusqu^ la mort" 1

The monk in an Order obeyed the Rule and its living
exponent, the Superior; the solitaries in the desert
obeyed an inward monitor. But for both obedience

wonasHque et la me cbr&lienne des premiers jours
(2nd ed. 1914), p. 33

INTRODUCTION 29

was the master-word, and in consequence beneath all
their surface struggles they had a deep peace of the
souL Cardinal Newman's words about the Benedictines
express better than anything else the true spirit of
monasticism, " To the monk heaven was next door ;
he formed no plans, he had no cares j the ravens of his
father Benedict were ever at his side. He * went forth '
in his youth 'to his work and to his labour' until the
evening of life ; if he lived a day longer, he did a day's
work more; whether he lived many days or few, he,
laboured on to the end of them. He had no wish to see
further in advance of his journey than where he was to
make his next stage. He ploughed and sowed, he
prayed, he meditated, he studied, he wrote, he taught,
and then he died and went to heaven.' *

Some, while recognising the justice of what has been
said above, will maintain that they are bound to pass an
unfavourable judgment on a movement so anti-social
and anti-national as monasticism. It is pitiful, they say,
to see the elect spirits of their generation engaged in
spiritual self-culture, a selfish endeavour to save their
own souls. Why did they not marry and bring up
children, throw themselves into the national life, and so
strengthen the moral and economic fabric of the State
that it might have had a fair chance of resisting the
barbarian onslaught that was impending ?

"I can never forgive monasticism this wrong to
civilisation," said a distinguished Cambridge resident to
me once. At the time I felt that the objection was
unhistorical, a judging" of the men of bygone days by
standards which would have been meaningless to them,
resembling the criticisms of monasticism which Charles
Kingsley puts into the mouths of his characters in
Hypatia. But the objection was, after all, raised at the
1 Historical Sketches? II. 426.

30 INTRODUCTION

time, for Eusebius deals with this very difficulty in a
passage of great interest. 1

Why, he asks, did the Old Testament Saints attach
such importance to marriage and the begetting of
children, while we neglect the duty? His answer is
first that what was natural in the early days of the
human race is unsuitable now when we are living in the
last days quoting St. Paul's words in i Corinthians vii.
If the time was short in the apostle's day, how little is
left now before the advent of the new order. Then in
the Old Testament the bulk of mankind were living a
life akin to that of the beasts, and so the few who served
God were obliged to have families if the holy seed was
to be preserved at alij whereas now there is such a
multitude of Christians that some can be spared for the
ascetic life. He goes on to speak of spiritual children
begotten by these holy men, and points out that after all
for the great majority of men the New Testament does
enjoin marriage.

Surely we can accept Eusebms' conclusions. There
will always be enough to obey the primitive human
instincts which lead men and women to marriage ; there
will certainly be enough children born from these
marriages to carry on the race, if the Christian teaching
on marriage is honoured. So we can but rejoice, if out
of the great number who remain unmarried some do so
in order to live a life separated from the world and
devoted to unseen things. Let us exercise a little
common sense. , At this distance of time who can pre-
tend to care whether a few little Egyptians more or less
were born in the fourth century, to live dim, undistin-
guished lives, cultivating the soil in order to fill the
grain-ships with bread-stuffs for Rome, or later, Con-
stantinople? But it makes a good deal of difference
1 Demon. Evang. I. 9 (P. G. XXII. 77. ).

INTRODUCTION 3 i

to us that men and women were ready to forsake all
for Christ and that the sweet savour of their example
is still fragrant in our midst. Many of the monastic
records are exquisitely beautiful. Take, for example,
the deaths of two great nuns, Emmelia and Macrina,
as described in the Life of the latter. 1 Of Emmelia, the
mother, it is said that " when she ceased to bless, she
ceased to live." Of Macrina, her daughter: "As she
approached her end, as if she discerned the beauty of
the Bridegroom more clearly, she hastened towards the
Beloved with the greater eagerness."

Or we may quote from Palladius the answer given
him by Macarius, when he complained that he was
making no progress : " Say, for Christ's sake I am
guarding the walls." 2 He means: Comfort yourself
with the thought that the people of Egypt are living
their life in the world, exposed to so many temptations ;
as a protecting wall between them and the enemy the
monasteries are interposed; you with your prayers are
helping to guard that wall.

Is not this the real point at issue ? If we believe in
prayer as the noblest and most fruitful activity of man's
nature, we shall probably be led to believe that God
separates some to a life of prayer, and that the mass
of mankind dwell in greater security, thanks to the
protecting wall of the prayers of these separated ones.
It is because the monks of Egypt put spiritual things
first, albeit sometimes in an exaggerated and strained
fashion, and believed in the life of prayer, that their
example is of permanent value to Christendom.

Finally, it is a commonplace to say that we live in
a materialistic age. Riches are the pathway to power

1 See my translation of Gregory of Nyssa's Vita S. Macrinae
(London, 1916).

2 XVIII. 29.

32 INTRODUCTION

and influence over the lives of others. The Church
itself is infected hy materialism, in that finance absorbs
so much of its energies. Great philanthropists, ecclesi-
astical statesmen, and missionaries all need money to
carry out their schemes of benefiting mankind. Of
course there is a good side to this ; over against our
Lord's praises of poverty must be set His teaching about
stewardship. Yet one suspects that English Christians
have not so far learned all that is implied in His treat-
ment of riches and poverty. And so it is a salutary
experience to read the Lausiac History and live for a
while in an age of the Church when renunciation of all
possessions was the surest road to fame and widespread
influence for good.

VI. THE PRESENT EDITION

I have followed Butler's text throughout, including
the readings from W given in the Appendix, which are
in some cases to be substituted for those which appear ir
the body of the book. Where a different text is followed
for example a reading suggested by C, H. Turner, the
deviation from Butler is indicated in the notes. The
paragraph divisions are those of Butler, the section;
into which the chapters are divided are Lucofs.

In places I was confronted with language which coulc
hardly be translated literally ; Lucot manages to do so
but the traditions of English are different To omit tin
passages would in some cases have spoiled the sens*
of a whole passage; besides, the book is intended fo
scholars, who have a right to know what the autho
said, I met the difficulty by toning down and emploj
ing euphemisms ; the scholar will have no difficulty i]
seeing what is meant I cannot pretend that th
compromise is satisfactory.

INTRODUCTION 33

I have aimed at the combination of accuracy, not
necessarily identical with literalness, and an easily-read
English style. Only those who have tried know how
hard it is to combine the two. Palladius, though not
a stylist, is a clear and forcible writer, and the task of
translating him into English presents no special difficulty.
A feature of his style is the incessant use of the
particle vbv.

VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY

(See also list of abbreviations.)

Butler, E. C., Chapter on " Monasticism " in Cambridge

Medieval History ', Vol. I, Cambridge, 1911.
Cabrolj F., art on " Monasticism " in Mncylop&dia, oj

Religion and Ethics? Vol. VIII. Edinburgh, 1915.
Clarke, W. K. L., St. Basil the Great: A Study in

Monasticism. Cambridge, 1913.
Duchesne, L., Chapter on "Les Moines d' Orient"

in Histoire Ancienne de T&glise^ Vol. II. Paris,

1907.
Krottenthaler, S., Des Pahadius von Helenopolis Leben

der heiligen Vater (German translation of Butler's

text). Miinchen, 1912.

Ladeuze, F., Le Chiobitisme Pakhomien. Louvain, 1897.
Leclercq, H., art "C^nobitisme"inZ>/^/^<^/r^^^n:^-

ologie Chretienne. Paris, 1910.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers^ The: Athanasius,

Cassian, Socrates, Sozomen. Oxford, various

dates.
Zockler, O., Askese and Monchtum* Frankfurt-a-M.,

1897.

ABBREVIATIONS

Budge = E. A. Wallis Budge, The Paradise of the Holy Fathers
(Eng. trans, of the Syriac version). London, 1907.

Butler = E, C. Butler, The Lausiac History of Palladius, Vol. I.
18985 Vol. II. 1904. Cambridge.

D.CB. = Dictionary of Christian Biography.
E.R.E. = Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.

Hist. Mon. = Historia Monac/wrum in Aegypto, Rufmus (?), Greek
text in Preuschen, Palladius Mid Rufmus. Giessen, 1897.

Lucot = Palladms, Histoire Lausiaqm (French trans, of Butler's
text). Paris, 1912.

Turner = C, H. Turner, review of Butler's Lausiac History in
Journal of Theological Studies. 1905,

(....) = matter not in the Greek added to complete the sense.

[....] = (generally) translation not of the actual Greek text but
of Butler's critically reconstructed text ; but see notes.

THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

INTRODUCTORY PIECES
PREFACE TO THE LIFE OF THE HOLY FATHERS*

[i] THIS book is a record of the virtuous asceticism
and marvellous manner of life of those blessed and holy
fathers, the monks and anchorites which inhabit the
desert, (written) with a view of stirring to rivalry and
imitation those who wish to realize the heavenly mode
of life and desire to tread the road which leads to the
kingdom of heaven. It contains also memoirs of aged
women and illustrious God-inspired matrons, who with
masculine and perfect mind have successfully accom-
plished the straggles of virtuous aceticism, (which may
serve) as a model and object of desire for those women
who long to wear the crown of continence and chastity.

[2] This is how the book came to be written. 2 A
man, admirable in every way, very learned, of peaceable
disposition, religiously disposed and devout-minded,
liberal towards those who lack the necessaries of life, in
respect of high distinctions preferred above many men of
rank owing to the excellence of his character, and with
all this guarded continually by the power of the Divine
Spirit such is the man who commanded us to write, or
rather, if one must tell the truth, aroused our slothful

1 Butler prints this Preface, but considers it spurious.

2 Butler marks the text here corrupt, but the meaning is clear.

36 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

roind to the contemplation of better things, to imitate
and attempt to rival the ascetic virtues of our holy and
immortal spiritual fathers and all who have lived to
please God with much mortification of the body. [3]
And so, having described the lives of these invincible
athletes, we have sent them to him, proclaiming the con-
spicuous virtues of each of these great persons. I am
referring to Lausus, the best of men, who by the favour
of God has been appointed guardian of our godly and
religious empire j it is he who is inspired with this divine
and spiritual passion.

[4] I then, who am clumsy in utterance 1 and have
but a superficial acquaintance with spiritual knowledge
and am unworthy to draw up a list of the holy fathers of
the spiritual life, fearing the infinite greatness of the task
set me, so much above my capacity, found the command
intolerable, requiring as it did so much worldly wisdom
and spiritual understanding. Nevertheless, respecting
in the first place the eager virtue of the man who urged
us to obey the command, and considering the benefit
accruing to the readers, and fearing also the danger of
a refusal albeit with a reasonable excuse, I first com-
mended the noble task to Providence and then applied
myself diligently to it. Sustained, as if on wings, by the
intercession of the holy fathers, I attended the contests'
of the arena. I have described in a kind of summary
only the main contests and achievements of the noble
athletes and great mennot only illustrious men who
have realized the best manner of life, but also blessed
and highborn women who have practised the highest
life.

[5] I have been privileged to see with my own eyes
the revered faces of some of these, but in the case of
others, who had already been perfected in the arena of
1 This accords with the evidence of the book.

INTRODUCTORY PIECES 37

piety, I have learned their heavenly mode of life from
inspired athletes of Christ. In the course of my journey
on foot I visited many cities and very many villages,
every cave and all the desert dwellings of monks, with
all accuracy as befitted my pious intentions. Some
things I wrote down after personal investigation, the rest
I have heard from the holy fathers, and I have recorded
in this book the combats of great men, and women
more like men than nature would seem to allow, thanks
to their hope in Christ, I now send the whole to you
whose ears love divine oracles, to you, Lausus, who
are the pride of excellent and God-beloved men, and
the ornament of the most faithful and God-beloved
empire, noble and Christ-loving servant of God. I have
recorded x to the best of my feeble powers the famous
name of each of the athletes of Christ, male and female,
describing a few short contests out of the many mighty
ones engaged in by each, adding in most cases the
family and city and place of residence. 2

[6] We have also told of men and women who have
reached the highest stage of virtue, but owing to vain-
glory, as it is called, the mother of pride, have fallen
into the lowest pit and abyss of hell, and the triumphs
of asceticism, so earnestly desired and so strenuously
fought for, acquired by them after long periods of time
and many labours, have been dissipated in an instant by
pride and self-conceit. But by the grace of our Saviour
and the fore-knowledge of the holy fathers and the sym-
pathy of spiritual affection they have been snatched from
the nets of the devil and, helped by the prayers of the
saints, have recovered their former life of virtue.

1 Literally, " engraved 55 (as on a statue).
8 Or, "situation of the r

the monastery " (riv ronw rijs /i0njf ).

38 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

COPY OF A LETTER WRITTEN BY PALLADIUS THE
BISHOP TO LAUSUS THE CHAMBERLAIN.*

[i] I congratulate you on your intention. Indeed I
am justified in beginning my letter with congratulation,
because, when all men are gaping after vain things and
building their edifice with stones from which they got no
joy, 2 you yourself want to be taught words of edification.
For only the God of all is untaught, since He is self-
originate and has none other before Him. But all other
things are taught, since they are made and created.
The first orders (of angels) have the supreme Trinity as
teacher, the second learn from the first, the third from
the second, and so successively in order until the last.
For those who are superior in judgment and virtue
teach those who are inferior in knowledge. [2] So then
men who think they do not need teachers, or do not
obey those who teach them in love, suffer from the
disease of ignorance, the mother of arrogance. Their
leaders on the road to destruction are those who have
fallen from the heavenly life, the demons who fly in
the air having fled from their teachers in heaven. For
teaching does not consist in words and syllables some-
times men possess these who are as vile as can be but

1 A genuine letter sent by Palladius with his book. Lausus was
praepositm (I e. sacri cubiculi) at the court of Theodosius II. Cf.
J. S. Reid in Cambridge Mediaeval History, Vol. I. ch. 2.
(This officer) "grew in importance, as measured by dignity and
precedence, until in the time of Theodosius the Great it was one of
four high offices which conferred on their holders membership of
the Imperial Council. . . . Some duties fell to him which are
hardly suggested by his title. He was in control of the emperor's
select and intimate bodyguard, which bore the name of silentiariij
thirty in number, with three decuriones for officers. Curiously, he
superintended one division of the vast imperial domains, that
considerable portion of them which lay within the province of
Cappadocia."

2 Alternative reading, printed by Butler in the text, but rejected
in a supplementary note : "from which they will get no benefit."

PROLOGUE 39

in meritorious acts of character, cheerfulness, intrepidity,
bravery, good temper; add to these unfailing boldness,
which generates words like a flame of fire. [3] For if
this had not been so, the great Teacher would not have
said to His disciples : " Learn of Me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart." 1 He does not train the apostles with
elegant language, but with care for character, distressing
none save those who hate the word and hate teachers.
For the soul that is being trained according to God's
purpose must be either learning faithfully what it does
not know, or teaching clearly what it knows. But if it
wants to do neither, though able to do them, then it is
mad. For to be sated with teaching and unable to bear
the word, for which the soul of him who loves God is
always hungry, is the beginning of apostasy. Be strong
then and of sound mind and play the man, and may
God grant you to pursue closely the knowledge of Christ.

PROLOGUE

[r] Forasmuch 2 as many have left behind for their
age many and divers writings concerning different epochs,
some of them by an inspiration of heavenly God-given
grace (writing) for the edification and safety of those
who follow with loyal purpose the teachings of the
Saviour, others with sycophantic and corrupt intention
having indulged in mad follies in order to encourage
such as desire vain-glory, others again, inspired by a
certain madness and the influence of the demon who
hates good, and in their pride and wrath planning the
destruction of light-minded men and the soiling of the
immaculate Catholic Church, having attacked the minds
of the foolish to make them dislike the saintly life,

1 Mt. xi. 29.

2 Modelled on the Prologue of St. Luke's Gospel.

40 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

[2] it seemed good to me also, 1 your humble servant,
reverencing the command of your magnanimity, 2 O man
most eager to learn, a command issued with a view to
spiritual progress, to publish this book in narrative form
for your benefit, (telling my story) from the beginning,
(When I thus decided), 3 it was, I suppose, my thirty-third
year in the society of the brethren and the twentieth
year of my episcopate, and the fifty-sixth of my whole
life. 4 You were asking for accounts of the fathers, both
male and female (saints), both those whom I had seen
and those about whom I had heard and those with
whom I lived in the Egyptian desert and Libya, the
Thebaid and Syene, near which last are the so-called
Tabennesiots, 5 and again in Mesopotamia, Palestine and
Syria, and the districts of the West Rome and Cam-
pania and thereabouts. [3] (My aim is) that you may
have (in my book) for the benefit of your soul a solemn
reminder, an unfailing cure for forgetfulness ; and that
you may drive away by its help all drowsiness pro-
ceeding from irrational lust, all indecision and pettiness
in business affairs, all backwardness and pusillanimity in
the domain of character, all resentment, worry, grief and
irrational fear; and moreover the excitements of the
world ; and may with unfailing desire make progress in
the purpose of piety, becoming a guide both to your-
self, your companions, your subordinates, and the most
religious Emperors. For by means of these meritorious
works all lovers of Christ press on to be joined to God.

1 Lk. i. 3. The long and involved sentence of the original has
been retained, in order to make the allusion plain.

a Honorific titles of this kind were very common in the Eastern
Empire, from which they have descended to the Eastern Church of
to-day.

8 From this point the long and involved sentence of the original
39 Hues in Butler's text before a full stop occurs has been
broken up.

* I.e. 419-420. , See Ch. XXXII,

PROLOGUE 41

Each, day you will be expecting the departure of your
soul, as it is written ; [4] " It is good to depart and be
with Christ," 1 and "Prepare thy works for thy depar-
ture and be ready in thy field. " 2 For he that keeps
death always in mind, that it will come of necessity and
will not tarry, shall not greatly fall. You will neither
take amiss the guidance of my directions, nor will you
despise the uncouthness and inelegance of my style ; for
indeed it is not the work of divine teaching to speak
with studied elegance, but to persuade the mind with
considerations of truth, as it is written; "Open thy
mouth to the word of God/' 8 and again: "Miss not
the discourse of the aged, for they also learned of their
fathers." 4

[5] I then, O man of God most eager to learn, fol-
lowing in part this precept, have been in contact with
many of the saints. Putting aside considerations of
prudence, 5 I have made journeys of thirty days, yes and
twice as long. (I say it) as before God, traversing on
foot in my journeys all the land of the Romans, 6 I
welcomed all the hardship of the way so long as I might
meet some man that loved God, that I might gain what
I had not got. [6] For if Paul, who was so far in
advance of me, surpassing me in manner of life, know-
ledge, conscience and faith, undertook the journey from
Tarsus to Judsea to meet Peter, James and John ; and

1 Phil. i. 23. a Prov. xxiv. 27.

8 Prov. xxxi. 8. 4 Ecclus. viii. 9.

5 A paraphrase. The Greek is : ov tn-picpyy xw<rdpevos \oyia '/t,
"having not used elaborate calculations" (on the contrary, throw-
ing prudence to the winds and undertaking long and arduous
journeys). But perhaps it means: "not out of idle curiosity."

6 The Roman Empire. But to Palladius this would rnean^the
Eastern Empire, so that " Greeks" would represent his meaning.
It actually occurs in the Syria, see Wallis Budge, I. 83. The
Turkish Empire to-day, heir of the (Eastern) Roman Empire, is
called Rum,

42 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

if he tells of it with a kind of boastfulness, recounting 1
his toils in order to stir to emulation those who live in
sloth and laziness, saying: "I went up to Jerusalem to
visit Cephas;" 2 if he was not satisfied with the report
of Peter's virtue, but longed for an actual meeting face
to face how much more was I, the debtor who owed
ten thousand talents, 3 bound to do this, not for any
good I might do them, but for my own benefit ? [7] For
indeed those who wrote the lives of the Fathers, Abra-
ham and his successors, Moses, Elijah and John, told
their tale, not to glorify them, but to benefit their readers.
Knowing these things then, Lausus, most loyal servant
of Christ, and impressing them on yourself, be patient
with my folly, (which is designed) to preserve the pious
disposition of your mind ; for it is naturally exposed to
waves of evil, both visible and invisible, and can enjoy
calm only with the help of continuous prayer and spiritual
self-culture. 4 [8] For many of the brethren, pluming
themselves both on their labours and charities and
boasting of their celi'bacy or virginity and putting their
trust in meditation on the divine oracles and acts of
zeal, have yet failed to attain impassivity. 5 Through
lack of discernment, under the pretext of piety, they
have fallen victim to a disease (which manifests itself)
in acts of idle curiosity, from which spring officious or
even evil activities, such as drive away good activities,
the mother of spiritual self-culture. 6

1 Literally "inscribing on a pillar." 8 Gal. i. 18.

3 Mt. xviii. 24. ..* ISiQ'xpa.'yfJLoa'tv'r}.

5 The Stoic virtue of mrdQeia naturally became an ideal for the
philosophers of the desert, though Palladius of course interpreted
it in a Christian sense. See Butler I: 176. A satisfactory English
equivalent is difficult to find. Butler renders by " impassivity " ;
perhaps "detachment" would be better.

6 The play on words ^tAowpay/tocriJvay, voXvjr(iayfj.oo'^at ) Ka-
KOTpayfji.oa'^voiL, KaKoirpayfjuocrfo'rjv, idto < jrpay[x.o<rin''r)$ can hardly be
represented in English.

PROLOGUE 43

[9] Play the man then, I beseech you, and do not
increase your wealth. This policy you have already
adopted, since of your own accord you have lessened
it by distributing to those in need owing to the supply
of virtue which is thereby gained. Nor have you yielded
to impulse and unreasonable premature decision and
fettered your free choice with an oath 1 to curry favour
with men, as some have done who in a spirit of rivalry,
that they may boast of not eating or drinking, have
enslaved their free will by the constraint of an oath and
have succumbed again miserably to the love of this
world and accidie 2 and pleasure and so have suffered
the pangs of perjury. For if you partake reasonably
and abstain reasonably you will never sin. [10] For
reason, of all the emotions within us, is divine, banish-
ing what is harmful and welcoming what is beneficial.
"For the law is not made for a righteous man." 3 For
to drink wine with reason is better than to drink water/
with pride. And, please, look on those who drink wine
with reason as holy men and those who drink water
without reason as profane men, and no longer blame or
praise the material, but count happy or wretched the
minds of those who use the material well or ill. Joseph
drank wine in Egypt long ago, but his mind suffered
no harm, for he kept his thoughts under control. ,
[n] But Pythagoras, Diogenes and Plato drank water; 4

1 St. Basil (c. 365) contemplates permanent vows, but they were
evidently not generally accepted when Pallaclius wrote. See Clarke,
St. Basil the Great, pp. 107 f., for a full discussion,

2 Since Bp, Paget's famous essay "On Accidie" in The Spirit
of Discipline the word, which is as old as Chaucer, has been
rehabilitated in English. It signifies a state of spiritual torpor and
gloom. It was a special temptation of the monks and of all who
had or still have few outward distractions and are thrown largely
on their own mental resources. * I Tim. i. 9.

* See Butler's note ad loc. which incorporates a communication
from Dr. Henry Jackson, who concludes that " Pythagoras and
Diogenes were total abstainers, but Plato a moderate drinker."

44 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

so did the Manichseans and the rest of the band of
soi-disant philosophers, and yet they reached such a
pitch of vain-glory in their intemperance that they failed
to know God and worshipped idols. The apostle Peter
and his companions used wine to some extent, so that
their Master, our Saviour, was himself reproached on
account of their participation, by the Jews' saying :
"Why do not thy disciples fast as do the disciples of
John?" 1 Again insulting the disciples with reproaches
they said : " Your Master eats and drinks with the
publicans and sinners." 2 Clearly they would not have
attacked them over bread and water. [12] And again,
when they were unreasonably admiring water-drinking
and blaming wine-drinking, the Saviour said : " John
came in the way of righteousness, neither eating nor
drinking " obviously meat and wine, for apart from the
other things he could not have lived "and they say,
He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, Behold a gluttonous man and
a wine-bibber, and a friend of publicans and sinners" 3
because of his eating and drinking. What are we to
do then ? Let us follow neither those who blame nor
those who praise, but let us either fast with John reason-
ably even if they say : " They have a devil," or let us
drink wine wisely with Jesus, if the body needs it, even
if they say : " Behold men gluttonous and wine-bibbers/*
[13] For in truth neither is eating nor refraining any-
thing, but faith extending itself in love to works. For
when faith accompanies every action, he that eateth and
drinketh because of faith is uncondemned, "for what-
soever is not of faith is sin," 4 But when any one of
those who sin says he partakes in faith or Is doing
anything else with unreasonable self-confidence and cor-

* Mk. ii. 18. 2 Mt. iac. II (Lk. v, 30).

a Mt, xxi. 32 and xL 18, 19. 4 Rom, xxv, 23,

PROLOGUE 45

rupted conscience, the Saviour has given express orders,
saying: "By their fruits ye shall know them," 1 But
that the fruit of those who live with reason and under-
standing, as the divine Apostle says, "is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meek-
ness, temperance," 2 this is granted by all. [14] For
Paul himself said: "The fruit of the spirit is" so-and-
so. But because he who sets himself to get such fruit
will not eat meat or drink wine unreasonably or without
definite aim or out of season, nor will he dwell with an
uneasy conscience, again the same Paul says : " Every
man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
things." 3 When the body is in health he abstains from
fattening things, when it is weak or in pain or meets
with griefs or misadventures, he will make use of foods
or drinks as medicines to heal what grieves him, and
he will abstain from all that harms the soul- anger,
envy, vain-glory, accidie, detraction, and unreasonable
suspicion giving thanks to the Lord.

[15] Having then discussed the matter sufficiently
above, I bring another exhortation to your desire of
learning. Flee, as far as is in your power, encounters
with men whose presence confers no benefit and who
beautify their skin in unseemly fashion, even if they be
orthodox not to speak of heretics ! They do you harm
by their hypocrisy, even when they seem to be dragging
out a great age with their grey hair and wrinkles. For,
even supposing you come to no harm at their hands by
reason of your noble character, you will suffer this lesser
evil in becoming insolent and proud, and mocking at
them, and this will do you harm. But go near a bright
window and seek encounters with holy men and women,
in order that by their help you may be able to see

1 Mt. vii. 1 6. * Gal. v. 22.

3 I Cor, ix, 25.

46 THE LAUbIA<J HlblUKY

clearly also your own heart as it were a closely-written
book, 1 being able by comparison to discern your own
slackness or neglect. [16] For the colour of their
faces with the bloom of grey hairs and the arrangement
of their clothes and the modesty of their language and
the reverence of their conversation and the grace of
their thoughts will strengthen you, even if you should
happen to be in a mood of accidie. "For a man's
attire and his gait and the laugh of his teeth will
proclaim what he is like/ 7 as Wisdom says. 2

So now I begin my tales. I shall leave unnoticed
neither those in the cities nor those in the villages or
deserts. For the object of our inquiry is not the place
where they have settled but the fashion of their plan of
life.

1 The holy men are the window, through which the light shines.
As you stand near a window to read a book with small type, so
Lausus by frequenting the company of the saints will see clearly
into his own life. But the text is doubtful.

2 Ecclus. xix. 30.

CHAPTER I

ISIDORE 1

[i] THE first time that I set foot in the city of the
Alexandrians, in the second consulate of the great
Emperor Theodosius, 2 who now lives with the angels
because of his faith in Christ, I met in the city a
wonderful man, distinguished in every respect, both as
regards character and knowledge, Isidore the priest,
hospitaller of the Church of Alexandria. He was said
to have fought successfully his first youthful contests in
the desert, and I actually saw his cell in the mountain of
Nitria. But when I met him, he was an old man
seventy years of age, who lived another fifteen years and
then died in peace. [2] Up to the very end of his life
he wore no linen except a head-band, never had a bath,
nor partook of meat. His slender frame was so well-
knit by grace that all who did not know his manner of
life expected that he lived in luxury. Time would fail
me if I were to tell 3 in detail the virtues of his soul
He was so benevolent and peaceable that even his
enemies the unbelievers themselves reverenced his
shadow because of his exceeding kindliness. [3] So
great a knowledge had he of the holy scriptures and the
divine precepts that even at the very meals of the
brethren he would have periods of absent-mindedness
and remain silent. And being urged to tell the details

1 Palladius mentions three monks named Isidore, Besides this
one, there is the priest of Scete (XIX) and the bishop of Her-
mopolis Parva (XL VI). See Butler's note ; and ZX C. B. for other
persons of the same name. See also note on X. 2. (For this
Isidore cf. Socr. VI. 9, Soz. VIII. 2, 12 f.).

2 I. e. 388. But see Duchesne, Histoive ancienne de I'Eglise,
II. 610.

3 The phrase is taken from Heb. xi. 32.

47

48 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

of his ecstasy he would say : "I went away in thought
on a journey, seized by contemplation." For my part
I often knew him weep at table, and when I asked the
cause of the tears I heard him say : "I shrink from par-
taking of irrational food, being myself rational and
destined to live in a paradise of delight owing to the
power given us by Christ. 3 ' [4] He became known to
all the Senate at Rome and to the wives of the nobles,
when he paid his first visit in company with Athanasius
the bishop, 1 and on a second occasion with Demetrius
the bishop ; a man of great wealth and extensive property,
he wrote no will when he came to die, and left neither
money nor goods to his sisters, who were virgins. But
he commended them to Christ, saying : " He that
created you will provide for your life, as He has done
for me." Now there was with his sisters a community
of seventy virgins.

When I visited him as a young man and besought
that I might be trained in the solitary life, since I was in
the full vigour of my age and needed, not discourse, but
bodily hardships, like a good tamer of colts he led me
out from the city to the so-called Solitudes five miles
away (and handed me over to Dorotheus). 2

CHAPTER II

DOROTHEUS 3

[i] HANDING me over to Dorotheus, a Theban ascetic
who was spending the sixtieth year in his cave, he

1 The visit with Athanasius would be in 340 ; for the difficulties
of the other visit see Butler II. 185.

2 The Dorotheus story is made into a separate chapter for the
convenience of readers, but there is no break in the original.

3 See Soz. VI. 29 for the same story. Another Dorotheus is
mentioned in chap. XXX

DOROTHEUS 49

ordered me to complete three years with him in order to
tame my passions for he knew that the old man lived
a life of great austerity bidding me return to him after-
wards for spiritual instruction. But being unable to
complete the three years owing to a breakdown in
health, I left Dorotheus before the three years were up,
for living with him one got parched and all dried-up. 1
For all day long in the burning heat he would collect
stones in the desert by the sea and build with them
continually and make cells, and then he would retire in
favour of those who could not build for themselves.
Each year he completed one cell. And once when I
said to him : " What do you mean, father, at your great
age by trying to kill your poor body in these heats?"
he answered thus : " It kills me, I kill it." For he used
to eat (daily) six ounces of bread and a bunch of herbs,
and drink water in proportion. God is my witness,
I never knew him stretch his legs and go to sleep on a
rush mat, or on a bed. But he would sit up all night
long and weave ropes of palm leaves to provide himself
with food. [3] Then, supposing that he did this for
my benefit, I made careful inquiries also from other
disciples of his, who lived by themselves, and ascertained
that 2 this had been his manner of life from a youth, and
that he had never deliberately gone to sleep, only when
working or eating he closed his eyes overcome by sleep,
so that often the piece of food fell from his mouth at the
moment of eating, so great was his drowsiness. Once
when I tried to constrain him to rest a little on the mat,
he was annbyed and said: "If you can persuade angels
to sleep, you will also persuade the zealous man."
[4] One day about the ninth hour he sent me to nil
the jar at his well in view of a meal at the ninth hour.

1 fy ydp afaov y SicuTa avXf*<&fi r ns ^

2 Omitting xfyovres, as suggested by Turner.
D

So THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Well, as it happened, I went and saw an asp at the
bottom of the well, and stopped drawing water and went
away and said to him : " We are dead men, father, for
I saw an asp in the well." But he smiled gravely and
looked at me for a time, and then shaking his head
said: "If the devil decides to become a serpent or
tortoise in every well and to fall into our water-supply,
will you refrain from drinking for ever?" And he went
out and drew the water himself, and was the first to
swallow some of it, fasting, saying: "Where the cross
passes, the evil of anything is powerless." 1

CHAPTER III

POTAMLENA 2

[i] THIS blessed man Isidore, who had met Antony
of blessed memory, told me a story which is worth
recording, which he had heard from Antony. There
lived in the time of Maximianus the persecutor a very
beautiful maiden called Potamiaena, a certain man's
slave. Her master failed to seduce her, though he
besought her eagerly with many promises. [2] At last
mad with rage he handed her over to the then prefect of
Alexandria, giving her up as a Christian and one who
abused the times 3 and the Emperors because of the
persecutions, and suggesting this to him with the help of
money: "If she falls in with my design, keep her
without punishment." But if she should remain puri-

1 He had made the sign of the cross over his food and drink,
according to custom,

a Eusebius describes the death of Potamisena in the persecution
of Severus, 202-3 (& & "VI. 5). She comes at the end of a list of
martyrs of the school of Origen. Evidently both accounts have the
same person in view, and Palladius or his authority must have been
mistaken as to the date.

3 robs Kaipots (i.e. "the state of affairs," "government"). An
alternative reading, robs Scots, is clearly a later emendation.

DIDYMUS 5*

tanical, he asked that she might be punished, lest con-
tinuing to live she should mock at his licentious ways,
[3] She was brought before the tribunal and the fortress
of her soul was attacked by various instruments of
torture. For one of them, the judge had a great
cauldron filled with pitch and ordered it to be heated.
When the pitch was now bubbling and terribly hot, he
gave her the choice: "Either go away and obey the
wishes of your master, or know that I shall order you to
be plunged into the cauldron." But she answered and
said : " God forbid that there should be another such
judge, who orders one to submit to licentiousness."
[4] So in a fury he ordered her to be stripped and
thrown into the cauldron ; but she lifted up her voice
and said : " By the head of your Emperor whom you
fear, if you have decided to punish me thus, order me to
be let down gradually into the cauldron that you may
know what endurance the Christ, Whom you know not,
bestows on me." And being let down gradually during
a space of one hour she died when the pitch reached
her neck.

CHAPTER IV

DIDYMUS *

[ij VERY many indeed of the men and women who
reached perfection in the Church of Alexandria were
worthy (to inherit) the land of the meek. 2 Among these
was Didymus the blind author. I met him four times in
all, visiting him at intervals during a period of ten years.
He was 85 years old when he died. He was blind,

1 According to Jerome (de vir. illusf. 109) Didymus was an all-
round scholar of great ability. Among his books were many com-
mentaries and a treatise on the Holy Spirit which Jerome translated
into Latin. Cf. Socr. IV. 25, Soz. III. 15, Theod. H.E. IV. 26.

2 &toi T7?y 7775 ruv vpaeav. The reference is to Mt. v. 5, /ua*<-
pioi of irpaets * $ri avrol

52 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

having lost his sight at the age of four, so he told me,
and he had never learned to read nor gone to school. 1
[2] (This was not necessary) for he had nature's teacher
his own conscience strongly developed. He was
adorned with such a gift of knowledge, that, so it was
said, the passage of scripture was fulfilled in him : " The
Lord maketh the blind wise." 2 For he interpreted the
Old and New Testament word by word, and such atten-
tion did he pay to doctrine, setting out his exposition of
it subtly yet surely, that he surpassed all the ancients in
knowledge. [3] Once when he tried to make me say a
prayer in his cell and I was unwilling, he told me this
story : " Into this cell Antony entered for the third time
on a visit to me. I besought him to say a prayer and he
instantly knelt down in the cell and did not make me
repeat my words, giving me by his action a lesson in
obedience. So if you want to follow in the steps of his
life, as you seem to, since you are a solitary and living
away from home to acquire virtue, lay aside your con-
tentiousness." And he told me this also: "As I was
thinking one day about the life of the wretched Emperor
Julian, how he was~a persecutor, and was feeling dejected
and by reason of my thoughts I had not tasted bread
even up to late evening it happened that as I sat in my
seat I was overcome by sleep and I saw in a trance white
horses running with riders and proclaiming : c Tell Didy-
mus, to-day at the seventh hour Julian died. Rise then
and eat/ they said, 'and send to Athanasius the bishop,
that he too may know.' And I marked," he said, " the
hour and month and week and day, and it was found to
be so." 3

1 He learned to read with his fingers from raised type, according
to Sozomen,

8 Ps. cxlv. (cxlvi.) 8, LXX version.

3 Soz. VI. 2 also has this story. See Theod. III. 24 for a similar
story.

ALEXANDRA 53

CHAPTER V

ALEXANDRA

[i] HE told me also of a maid-servant named Alex-
andra, who having left the city and shut herself up in a
tomb, received the necessaries of life through an opening,
seeing neither women nor men face to face for ten
years. And in the tenth year she fell asleep, having
arrayed herself (for death) : 1 and so the woman who
went as usual to see her and got no answer informed us. 2
So we broke down the door and entering in found her
fallen asleep. [2] Concerning her also the thrice-blessed
Melania, 3 about whom I shall speak later, used to say :
"I never saw her face to face, but standing by the
opening I urged her to say the reason why she shut her-
self up in a tomb. And she called out to me through
the opening : 'A man was distressed in mind because of
me and, lest I should seem to afflict or disparage him,
I chose to betake myself alive into the tomb rather than
cause a soul made in the image of God to stumble.'
[3] When I said," she continued, " 'How then do you
endure never meeting any one, but struggling with
accidie ? ' 4 she replied : f From early morn to the ninth
hour I pray hour by hour, spinning flax the while.

Lucot sees here a reference to the monastic
habit ((TX7?jua). Later there were two habits, the Little and Great
or Angelic. It would be appropriate for Alexandra to assume the
latter on her deathbed, as is frequently done to-day on Mount
Athos. However, the distinction between the two habits is not
found before Theodore of Studium (8th century), unless John the
Faster's (6th cent.) reference is to the same thing. See Clarke,
St. Basil the Great, pp. 135, 138 and N.F. Robinson, Monasticism
in the Orthodox Churches, p. 52.

2 Palladius here slips into or atio recta.

3 See XLVI. and LIV. Melania is adopted in this edition as
the best-known form, but there is good evidence for the diminutive
Melanium (cf. Eustochium) j see Butler II. 222 and Turner.

* Here almost = "boredom."

54 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

During the remaining hours I meditate on the holy
patriarchs and prophets and apostles and martyrs. And
having eaten my bread I remain in patience for the
other hours, waiting for my end with cheerful hope/ "

CHAPTER VI

THE RICH VIRGIN

[i] Bur I must not omit from my story those also
whose life has been characterized by pride, that I may
praise those who have remained true and ensure the
safety of my readers. There was a virgin at Alexandria
of humble exterior but haughty inward disposition, ex-
ceedingly wealthy, but never giving l an obol either to a
stranger or a virgin or a church or a poor man. In spite
of the frequent exhortations of the fathers she was not
weaning herself from material things. [2] Now she had
relations living, one of whom, her sister's daughter, she
adopted, and night and day she kept promising the girl
should have her money, having fallen away from her
aspirations after heaven. For this is a form of the deceit
of the devil, who afflicts us with pangs of avarice under
the pretext of family affection. For it is common know-
ledge that he cares nothing about family ties, since he
teaches men to murder brothers and mothers and fathers.
[3] But even if he seems to inspire anxiety for relations,
he does not do so from benevolent feelings towards them,
but to practise the soul in unrighteousness, knowing the
decree : "The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God." 2 Now it is quite possible for a man without
neglecting his own soul to be influenced by a godly con-
sideration and give assistance to his kinsfolk if they are
in want. But when a man subordinates his whole soul

1 The text is doubtful here, 3 x Cor, vi, 9,

THE RICH VIRGIN 55

to the interests of his relations, he comes under this law,
reckoning his soul " unto vanity." x [4] But the sacred
psalmist sings thus concerning those who care for their
soul with fear : " Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord?" meaning (it is) rarely (any one does) "or
who shall stand up in his holy place ? He that has clean
hands and is pure in heart, who did not lift up his soul
unto vanity." 2 For as many as neglect the virtues, these
lift up the soul unto vanity, believing that it is dissolved
with the body.

[5] Wishing to bleed this virgin, so the story goes,
and thus relieve her of her avarice, the most holy
Macarius, 3 the priest and superintendent of the hospital
for cripples, devises this expedient. In his youth he had
been a worker in precious stones what they call a
lapidary. So he goes and says to her : " Some precious
stones, emeralds and sapphires, 4 have fallen by fate into
my hands, and I cannot say whether they are treasure-
trove or stolen property. They have not been valued,
since they are beyond price, but any one who has the
money can buy them for five hundred pounds. [6] If
you decide to take them, you can get back your five
hundred pounds from one stone and use the rest for the
adornment of your niece." Excited (by his words) the
virgin is caught by the bait and falls at his feet " By
your feet;" she says, " let no one else get them." Then
he invites her ; " Come to my house and look at them."
But she had not the patience (for this), but flings down

1 Or, as we might say, ( * not taking his soul seriously." The
rendering given is not English, but is retained in order to keep the
reference to the psalm quoted below.

2 Ps. xxiii. (xxiv.), 3, 4.

3 Mentioned also in Cassian, ColL XIV. 4, as presiding over the
guest-house at Alexandria ; not to be identified with the other
Macarii of his book, see XV., XVII., XVIIL, XXI. and a careful
yjote (no. 26) in Butler.

56 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

the five hundred pounds before him, saying : "You want
them, take them. For I do not want to see the man
who sells them." [7] But he takes the five hundred
pounds and gives them for the needs of the hospital.
Time sped along and she was shy of reminding him (of
the matter), for Macarius clearly had a great reputation
in Alexandria being a lover of God and charitable he
remained vigorous until he was a hundred, and we too
passed some time with him. Finally, having found him
in the church, she says to him : " I beg you, what Deci-
sion have you come to about those stones for which I
gave the five hundred pounds ? " [8] But he answered
thus: "The moment you gave me the money, I de-
posited it for the price of the stones. And if you would
like to come and see them in the hospital for there
they are come and look if they please you. If not,
take back your money." So she came, very willingly.
Now the hospital had women on the first floor and men
on the ground floor. And having taken her there he
brings her into the porch and says to her : u Which do
you want to see first, the sapphires or the emeralds ? "
She says to him : "As you please." [9] He takes her
to the upper floor and shows her the women disabled in
hand or feet with their disfigured faces and says to her :
"Behold your sapphires 1" Then he takes her down
again and says to her, showing her the men : " Behold
your emeralds ! Do they please you ? If not, take back
your money." So she turned and went out, and return-
ing home fell ill from excess of grief, because she had
not done this thing in a godly fashion. Afterwards she
thanked the priest, when the maid for whom she was
planning died childless after marriage. 1

1 Reitzenstein, UeU&nistische Wundererzahlungen, p. 77, derives
the above story from the second episode of the Acts of Thomas, In
which the apostle receives money from the king with which to build

THE MONKS OF NITRIA 57

CHAPTER VII

THE MONKS OF NITRIA 1

[i] So then, after my visit to the monasteries round
Alexandria with their 2000 or so most noble and zealous
members and my three years sojourn there, I left them
and went to the mountain of Nitria. Between this
mountain and Alexandria lies the lake called Maria 2
seventy miles in extent. Having sailed across this I
came to the mountain on its south side in a day and a
half. [2] Next to this mountain lies the great desert
which stretches as far as Ethiopia and the Mazicae and
Mauretania. On the mountain live some 5000 men
with different modes of life, each living in accordance
with his own powers and wishes, so that it is allowed to
live alone, or with another, or with a number of others.
There are seven bakeries in the mountain, which serve
the needs both of these men and also of the anchorites
of the great desert, 600 in all. [3] So, having dwelt
on the mountain for a year and having received much
benefit from the blessed fathers Arsisius the Great 3 and
Poutoubastes and Asion and Cronius* and Sarapion, 5
and having been spurred on by hearing their many tales
about the fathers, I penetrated into the innermost desert.
In this mountain of Nitria there is a great church, by

him a palace, spends it on the poor, and so builds him a palace in
heaven. The motive is similar in the two stories, but it is simpler
to suppose that such stories were known to Macarius and prompted
his action.

1 The Wady Natron is some sixty miles south of Alexandria.
The actual Mount Nitria overlooked the valley. On Nitria see
Butler I. 270-275, II. 187-190, and Duchesne, Histoire Andenne
de I'Eglise, II. 492 f. Cf. Hist. Mon. XXIIL

2 The Mareotic Lake. Palladius exaggerates its size greatly.
9 See XLVI. 2 j Soz. III. 14, VI. 30.

* See XXI. i, XXII. I, XLVII. i.

5 See XLVI. 2, and P.C.B. for the various monks of this name.

5 8 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

which 1 stand three palm-trees, each with a whip sus-
pended from it. One is intended for the solitaries who
transgress, one for robbers if any pass that way, and one
for chance comers; so that all who transgress and are
judged worthy of blows are tied to the palm-tree and
receive on the back the appointed (number of stripes)
and are then released. [4] Next to the church is a
guest-house, where they receive the stranger who has
arrived, until he goes away of his own accord, without
limit of time, even if he remains two or three years.
Having allowed him to spend one week in idleness, the
rest of his stay they occupy with work either in the
garden, or bakery, or kitchen. If he should be an
important person, they give him a book, not allowing
"him to talk to any one before the hour, 2 In this moun-
tain there also live doctors and confectioners. And they
use wine and wine is on sale. [5] All these men work
with their hands at linen-manufacture, so that all are
self-supporting. And indeed at the ninth hour it is
possible to stand and hear how the strains of psalmody
rise from each habitation so that one believes that one
is high above the world in Paradise. 3 They occupy the
church only on Saturday 4 and Sunday, There are eight
priests who serve the church, in which, so long as the
senior priest lives, no one else celebrates, or preaches,
or gives decisions, 5 but they all just sit quietly by his
side.

1 Lit. " in which." The church may have been built round the
trees ; instances of this are not unknown.

2 A reading, rejected by Butler, defines this as the sixth hour.

3 The Office was recited separately in each settlement of monks.
Palladius has said above that the settlement might consist of one
monk, two monks, or a number.

* For the observance of Saturday see Duchesne, Christian
Worship, pp. 230 f.

8 Sucdfa, apparently = hear confessions. <{ Is this a, survival of
some primitive practice?" (Butler JL 263).

AMOUN OF NITRIA 59

[6] This Arsisius and many other old men -with him
whom we saw were contemporaries of the blessed Antony.
Some among them, they told me, had also known
Amoun 1 of Nitria, whose soul Antony saw being taken
up and conducted to heaven hy angels. Arsisius used
to say that he also knew Pachomius 2 of Tabennisi, a
prophet and archimandrite 3 over 3000 men, of whom I
shall speak later.

CHAPTER VIII

AMOUN OF NITRIA 4

[i] (ARSISIUS) used to say that Amoun lived in this
wise. When he was a young man of about twenty-two
he was constrained by his uncle to marry a wife he
(himself) was an orphan. Being unable to resist the
pressure of his uncle, he thought it best to be crowned 5
and take his seat in the nuptial chamber and undergo
all the marriage rites. When all (the guests) were gone

1 See next chapter. For modern parallels to Antony's vision cf.
Gurney, Phantasms oj the Living.

2 See Ch. XXXII. 3 J. e. superior.

4 Not to be confused with Ammonius, one of the four Tall
Brethren, who is mentioned in Ch. XI. For this Amoun cf. Atha-
nasius, Vit. Ant. 60, Hist, Mon. XXIX., Socr, IV. 23, Soz.

1.14.

5 For the crown at weddings see Cant iii. 1 1, Isa. Ixi. 10, Ezek.
xvi. 12. Tertullian objects to it as a heathen practice, de Coy. 13.
Crowning forms an important feature of the marriage ceremonial in
the Eastern Church to-day. Cf. Bliss, The Religions of Modern
Syria and Palestine, p. 148 : "The priest then takes a wreath of
flowers, called *the crown,' and touches the man's head, saying the
words : * The servant of God, M., is crowned for the servant of
God, N., in the name, etc.' Then touching the woman's head with
the same crown, he says the words a second time; finally, the
crown is placed on the man's head while the formula is said for the
third time. Then follows the crowning of the woman ' for the man '
in a precisely similar way. Then the priest, stretching out his
crossed arms towards the heads of the pair, announces the blessing
of the crowns three times : ' May the LorcJ our God crown them
with glory and honour/ "

60 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

out, after settling 1 the pair to sleep on the couch in the
bridal chamber, Amoun gets up and locks the door, then
he sits down and calls his blessed companion to him and
says to her: [2] "Come here, lady, and then I will
explain the matter to you. The marriage which we have
contracted has no special virtue. Let us then do well
by sleeping in future each of us separately, that we may
please God by keeping our virginity intact." And draw-
ing from his bosom a little book, he read to the girl, who
could not read at all, in the words 2 of the apostle and
the Saviour, and to most of what he read he added all
that was in his mind and explained the principles of
virginity and chastity; so that convinced by the grace
of God she said : [3] " I too am convinced, my lord.
And what further commands have you now ? " "I com-
mand," he said, "that each of us lives alone in future."
But she could not endure this, saying: "Let us dwell
in the same house, but in different beds." So he lived
in the same house with her eighteen years. During each
day he occupied himself with his garden and balsam-
grove for he prepared balsam. Balsam grows like a
vine, requiring cultivation and pruning and much hard
work. Then in the evening he would enter the house
and offer prayers and eat with his wife ; and then having
said the night prayers would go out. [4] Such was
their practice, and both having attained impassivity, the
prayers of Amoun prevailed, and she says to him at last ;
" I have something to say to you, my lord ; that, if you
hearken to me, I may be convinced that you love me
in a godly way," He says to her : " Say what you wish."
She says to him ; " It is just that we should live apart
you being a man and practising righteousness, and I also

1 Reading Koifdicravras. Butler gives this in the text, but in his
supplementary note prefers /coz/djowres.

2 3x irpoffdwov, "from the person of."

OR 61

eagerly following the same way as you. For it is absurd
that you should live with me in chastity and yet conceal
such virtue as this of yours." [5] But he, thanking
God, says to her: "Then you keep this house; but I
will make myself another house." And he went out and
settled in the inner part of the mount of Nitria for there
were no monasteries there yet and he made himself
two round cells. 1 And having lived twenty-two years
more in the desert he died, or rather fell asleep. He
used to see that blessed lady his wife twice each year.

The blessed Athanasius the bishop in his life of
Antony told a marvellous story about this man, 2 how
that he came to the bank of the river Lycus with his
disciple Theodorus, and shrinking from removing his
clothes lest he should see him naked, he was found on
the other side, having been carried across by angels
without using the ferry. Such then was the life of the
blessed Amoun and such his perfection that the blessed
Antony saw his soul carried to heaven by angels. I
crossed this river once in a ferry, but with fear ; for it is
a canal leading from the great Nile.

CHAPTER IX

OR

[i] IN this mountain of Nitria there was an ascetic
named Or, to whose great virtue the whole brotherhood
bore witness, and especially Melania, that woman 3 of
God, who came to the mountain before me. For my
part, I never saw him alive. And they used to say this

1 $60 &6\ovs KeX.\lei)v. The QdXos was a rounded and vaulted
chamber, Cf. the bee-hive cells of the Celtic monks.

2 Vit. Ant. 60.

8 % Mpuiros rav fleoD, "female man of God." -For Melania see
Ch.XLVI.

62 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

of him in their stories, that he never lied, nor swore, nor
abused any one, nor spoke without necessity.

CHAPTER X

PAMBO

[i] To this mountain also belonged the blessed
Pambo, teacher of Dioscorus the bishop and Ammonius
and Eusebius and Euthymius, "the (Tall) Brethren," 1
also of Origen the nephew of Dracontius, a wonderful
man. This Pambo possessed heroic virtues and great
qualities, one of which was this : he was very suspicious
of gold and silver, as Scripture demands. [2] For the
blessed Melania told me this story: "In early days,
when I came to Alexandria from Rome, I heard of his
virtue and the blessed Isidore 2 having told me of him
and having conducted me to him in the desert I brought
him a casket of silver containing silver to the weight of
three hundred pounds and besought him to take a part
of my goods. But he sitting still and weaving palm-
leaves merely blessed me in a sentence and said : * May
God give you your reward/ [3] And he said to his
steward Origen : f Take it and distribute it to all the
brethren who live in Libya and the islands, for these
monasteries are poorer (than the rest) ' ; instructing him
to give to none of those in Egypt, because their country
was more fertile. But I," she said, "remained standing,
expecting to be honoured or glorified by him because of
my gift, but hearing nothing from him I said to him ;
' That you may know, Sir, how much there is, it amounts
to three hundred pounds.' [4] But he without even

1 See Soz. VIII. 12 for their history.

2 * ' Doubtless " the bishop of HermopoHs mentioned in XLVI.
(Lucot). Butler, II. 185, finds it impossible to decide who this
Isidore is.

PAMBO 63

raising his head answered me : * The One to Whom you
brought them, my child, has no need of weights. For
He Who weighs the mountains, much more does He
know the weight of the silver. If you had given it to
me, you would have done well to tell me ; but if it was
to God, Who did not scorn the two obols, 1 then be
silent/ So," said she, "did the Lord manifest His
power when I came to the mountain. [5] After a
little while the man of God fell asleep, not from an
attack of fever, nor from any illness, but while he was
stitching up a basket, at the age of seventy. He had
sent for me and the last stitch being ready to be com-
pleted he said to me when about to die : ' Receive the
basket at my hands to remember me by, for I have
nothing else to leave you. 7 " Having prepared the body
for burial and wrapped it in linen cloths she buried him,
and then returned from the desert, keeping the basket
with her till her death,

[6] This Pambo on his death-bed, at the very moment
of his passing, is reported to have said this to the
bystanders," Origen the priest and steward and Am-
monius famous men, both of them and the rest of
the brethren : (t From the day that I came to this place
in the desert and built my cell and inhabited it, I cannot
remember having eaten * bread for nought/ 2 not earned
by my hands. I have not had to repent of any word
that I have spoken up to the present hour. And so I
go to God, as one who has not even begun to be pious/ 7
[7] Prominent men, Origen and Ammonius, testified
further to us, saying : " When he was asked about a word
of Scripture or other practical matter never did he answer
at once, but would say: I have not yet found (the
answer)/ Often he went three months even and gave
no answer, saying he had not put his hand on it.

1 Mk. xii. 42, Lk. xxi. 2. 2 2 Thess. iii. 8,

64 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Accordingly men received his answers as come from
God, so carefully were they framed, as God would
approve them. For this one virtue he was said to
possess even above the great Antony and above all
others, namely exactness of language."

[8] The following incident is told of Pambo. Pior l
the ascetic came to see him, bringing his own bread,
and being accused by Pambo, "Why have you done
this ? " answered : " Lest I should burden you." Pambo
gave him a silent lesson expressly. For after a while he
went to see Pior and took with him his bread, having
first moistened it, and when asked why he said : * ' I
moistened it as well, lest I should burden you."

CHAPTER XI

AMMONIUS

[i] THIS Ammonius, Pambo's disciple, with his three
brothers 2 and two sisters, having reached the perfection
of the love of God, made their home in the desert, the
women living separately by themselves, and the men
by themselves, so as to have a sufficient distance between
them. But since Ammonius was exceedingly learned
and a certain city coveted him for its bishop, a deputa-
tion waited on the blessed Timothy, 3 beseeching him to
ordain him as their bishop. [2] And he said to tbem :
"Bring him to me and I will ordain him." When
therefore they had gone with a force and he saw that
he was caught, he besought them and swore that he
would not accept ordination, nor depart from the desert.

1 See Ch. XXXIX.

2 " His three brothers and." These words are omitted in some
MSS,, probably owing to anti-Origenistic feeling.

3 Bishop of Alexandria, 381-5. See Socr. IV. 23 for another
version of the story. Cf, Soz. VI. 30.

AMMONIUS 65

And they would not give way to him. So before their
eyes he took scissors and cut off his left ear to the base,
saying to them : " Well, be convinced now that it is
impossible for me to be -ordained, since the law forbids
a man with ear cut off to be raised to the priesthood." 1
[3] So then they left him and departed and went and
told the bishop. And he said to them : " Let the Jews
observe this law. For ,my part, if you bring a man with
his nose cut off worthy in character, 111 ordain him."
So they went off again and implored Ammonius. And
he swore to them : " If you use force to me, I'll cut off
my tongue." So then they left him and went their way.

[4] About this Ammonius the following marvellous
story was told. When desire arose in him, he never
spared his poor body, but heating an iron in the fire he
would apply it to his members, so that he became a
mass of ulcers. Now his table from youth until death
contained raw food only. For he never ate anything
that had passed through the fire except bread. Having
learned by heart the Old and New Testaments and
(passages) in the writings of the famous authors Origen,
Didymus, Pierius and Stephen, he could repeat 6,000,000
(lines), as the fathers of the desert testify. [5] He was
a comforter to the brethren in the desert beyond all
others. To him the blessed Evagrius, an inspired and
discerning man, gave testimony, saying : " never have I
seen a man of more impassivity than he."

[Having been obliged on one occasion to visit
Constantinople . . . after a little while he fell asleep
and was buried in the martyr's chapel called Rufinianse.
His tomb is said to cure all sufferers from shivering
fever. 2 ]

1 Lev. xxi, 17 f-

* This paragraph is not in the best MSS. The text is recon-
structed by Butler.

E

66 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

CHAPTER XII

BENJAMIN 1

[i] IN this mountain of Nitria there was a man called
Benjamin who at the age of eighty years having reached
the perfection of asceticism was counted worthy of the
gift of healing, so that every one on whom he laid his
hands or to whom he gave oil after blessing it was cured
of every ailment 2 Now this man who was accounted
worthy of such a gift, eight months before his death
developed dropsy, and his body swelled so greatly that
he seemed a second Job. So Dioscorus the Bishop, 3 at
that time a priest of Mount Nitria, took us the blessed
Evagrius, 4 that is, and me and said to us : [2] " Come,
see a new Job, who with so great swelling of body and
incurable suffering yet maintains "an unbounded thank-
fulness." So we went and saw his" body so greatly
swollen that another man's fingers could not get round
one finger of his hand. We turned our eyes away, being
unable to look owing to the terrible nature of the
affliction. Then that blessed Benjamin said to us :
"Pray, children, that my inner man may not become
dropsical. For my outer man neither benefited me
when it was well, nor harmed me when it was ill."
[3] During these eight months a seat was arranged for
him, very wide, in which he sat continually, being no
longer able to lie down owing to the other requirements
of his body. But while he was in this state of affliction
he healed others. I have felt bound to describe this
affliction, lest we should be surprised when some un-
toward fate befalls righteous men. When he died, the

1 Cf. Soz. VI. 29.

a For holy oil cf. XVIII. 11, 22.

3 See X, I.

* See Ch, XXXVIII.

APOLLONIUS 67

lintels and door-posts were removed, that his body might
be carried out of the house, so great was the swelling. 1

CHAPTER XIII

APOLLONIUS

[i] A MAN named Apollonius, a merchant, who had
renounced the world and come to live on Mount Nitria,
being unable owing to advanced years either to learn a
craft or work as a scribe, 2 had this occupation during
his twenty years 7 life on the mountain. From his private
money and from (the produce of) his own labours he
bought in Alexandria all kinds of drugs and things
needed for the cells, and provided all the brotherhood
with them in their illnesses, [2] And one might see
him from early morn until the ninth hour going the
round of the monasteries and entering in at each door
in case there should be any one ill in bed, taking with
him dried grapes, pomegranates, eggs, and bread made
of fine flour, the things which such people need. This
plan he had devised for a profitable life in his old age.
When he died he left his stores to one like-minded with
himself, exhorting him to carry on this ministration.
For with 5000 monks inhabiting the mountain there was
need of this visiting, since the place was desert.

CHAPTER XIV

PAESIUS AND ISAIAS

[i] THERE were two brothers called Paesius and
Isaias, sons of a Spanish 3 merchant. On their father's
death they divided the real property which they got,

1 Papias in his fourth book told a similar story of Judas Iscariot.
See Lightfoot-Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, p. 523.

* &<rKricriv yf>a<f>LK-f)v. Writing was already recognized as an
ascetic exercise.

3 '2,iravodpdfj.os t i.e. he took his goods to Spain.

68 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

also the personal property consisting of 5000 pieces of
money and clothes and slaves. They considered with
each other and took counsel together saying; "What
mode of life shall we adopt, brother ? If we adopt the
merchant career which our father followed, then we
shall have to die and leave our labours to others.
[2] Perhaps we may even succumb to dangers from
robbers or on the sea. Come, then, let us embrace the
monastic life, that we may make a profitable use of our
father's riches and not lose our own souls." So the
ideal of the monastic life pleased them. But they found
themselves at variance, differing from each other 1 in
their views. For having divided the property, they
applied themselves each to his purpose of pleasing God,
but by different tactics. [3] For the one bestowed
everything on the monasteries and churches and prisons,
and having learned a trade by which to earn his bread
applied himself to asceticism and prayer. But the other
parted with nothing, but making himself a monastery
and getting together a few brethren welcomed every
stranger, every invalid, every old man, every poor man,
preparing three or four tables every Sunday and Saturday.
In this way he spent his money.

[4] When the two were dead, various eulogies were
pronounced over them, as if both had reached per-
fection. And some preferred Paesius, others Isaias.
But a contention having arisen in the brotherhood over
their praises, they went to the blessed Pambo and re-
ferred the decision to him, imploring that they might
learn which was the better method, But he said to
them: "Both are perfect; for one showed the works
of an Abraham, the other those of an Elijah." 2 [5] And

1 Reading /car' #AAov with Turner.

* The Syriac version (Budge) gives the sense accurately : " One
man made manifest the works of Abraham hy his hospitality, and
the other the self-denial of Elijah. }>

MACARIUS THE YOUNGER 69

when one party said : "By your feet (we ask), how can
they possibly be equal ? " and preferred the ascetic and
said : < He performed an Evangelical work l selling all
and giving to the poor, and every hour both by day and
night bea'ring the cross and following the Saviour and
his prayers." But the other side contended with them
and said : " Our man showed such great mercy to the
needy that he even sat in the roads and collected the
afflicted. And not only did he refresh his own soul but
the souls of many others, treating their diseases and
helping them." [6] Then blessed Pambo said to them :
" Once again I tell you, they are both equal. I assure
each of you that the one, unless he had been so great
an ascetic, was not worthy to be compared with the
benevolence of the other, while the second again, re-
freshing the stranger, was himself refreshed, and though
he seemed to carry the burden of toil, yet had the
refreshing that- follows it. But wait until I receive a
revelation from God, and after that come and you shall
learn." So they came again a few days after and he said
to them : " I saw both standing in Paradise, as it were
in the presence of God."

CHAPTER XV

MACARIUS THE YOUNGER 2

[i] A YOUTH named Macarius, when he was about
eighteen years old, as he played with Jiis comrades by
the lake called Maria, 3 being in charge of animals,
unwittingly committed a murder. And saying nothing
about it to any one he took to the desert and became so

1 Luke xviii. 22; cf. ix. 23, xiv. 27.

1 Nothing else is known about him, though Soz. VI. 29 seems to
confuse him with Macarius of Alexandria : see Ch. XVIII.
3 See Ch. VII,

70 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

afraid both of God and man that he lost all feeling and
remained three years in the desert without a roof to his
head. The land in these parts is rainless, and all men
know this, some from hearsay, others from personal
experience. [2] This man afterwards built himself a
cell. And having lived a further twenty-five years in
that cell he was counted worthy of the gift of blowing
away demons; 1 all his pleasure he found in solitude.
Having spent a long while with him, I inquired how he
felt on the subject of his sin of murder. He declared
that so far from grieving he actually gave thanks for the
murder, since the murder unwittingly committed proved
the occasion of his salvation. [3] And, bringing testi-
mony from the Scriptures, he used to say that Moses
would not have been accounted worthy of the divine
vision and so great a gift and the writing of the holy
words, unless he had fled to Mount Sinai in fear of
Pharaoh owing to the murder which he had committed
in Egypt. I say this, not to lead any one to commit
murder, bat to show that there are virtues due to circum-
stances, when a man does not come to the good of his
own accord. For some virtues are chosen voluntarily,
others are due to circumstances.

CHAPTER XVI

NATHANAEL

[i] THERE was another of the old (monks) called
Nathanael. I did not visit him during his lifetime,
since he had fallen asleep fifteen years before my
arrival. But when I met the men who lived with him

1 C Sulpitius Severus, Dial. III. 8, where St. Martin blows
away a demon that is sitting behind the back of Avitianus. ( Ex-
suiBans," says the author, apologizing for the use of a word which
is hardly Latin.

NATHANAEL 71

and shared his life of asceticism, I made a point of in-
quiring about the virtues of this man. They showed
me his cell, wherein no one dwelt any longer because
it was too near the world ; he had made it when the
anchorites were few in number. They told this story
about him as specially characteristic, that he stopped
in his cell so perseveringly as not to be shaken from
his purpose. [2] Among other things, having been
mocked at the outset by the demon who mocks all
men and deceives them, he seemed to feel a distaste *
for his first cell and went off and built another nearer
a village. So when he had completed the cell and
occupied it, three or four months after the demon came
by night, holding a whip of ox-hide like the executioners,
and having the appearance of a ragged soldier, and
began cracking his whip. Then the blessed Nathanael
answered and said : "Who are you who do such things
in my dwelling?" The demon answered: "I am he
who drove you from that cell. I have come to chase
you out of this too." [3] Knowing that he was the
victim of an illusion, he returned again to the first cell,
and in a period of thirty-seven years in all did not cross
the threshold, having a quarrel with the demon ; who
showed him such wonders, trying to force him out, as it
is impossible to relate. This is one of them. Having
watched for a visit from seven holy bishops either
arranged by God's providence or being one of his own
temptations the demon very nearly turned him from
his purpose. For when the bishops went out after
prayer, he did not escort them even one step. [4] The
deacons said to him : " This is an act of -pride, Father,
not escorting the bishops." But he said to them: "I
am dead both to my lords the bishops and to all the
world. For I have a hidden design and God knows my
iav (" to feel accidie ").

72 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

heart. Wherefore I do not escort them," Having failed
in this affair, the demon disguised himself nine months
before NathanaePs death and became a lad about ten
years old, driving an ass laden with loaves in a basket.
And having arrived late in the evening near his cell he
made it seem that the ass was fallen and the boy crying :
[5] " Father Nathanael, pity me and give me a hand."
Hearing the voice of the supposed boy and opening the
door, he stood within and said to him: "Who are you
and what do you want me to do for you ? " He said :
" I am so-and-so's little servant and I am carrying loaves,
for it is this brother's agape, and to-morrow when Satur-
day 1 dawns offerings will be wanted. I beseech you,
do not neglect me, lest perchance I be eaten by hyaenas."
For many hyaenas are found in those places. So blessed
Nathanael stood in silence with his brain in a whirl and
his heart sore troubled and argued thus with himself;
"Either I must give up the commandment, 2 or my
purpose." Afterwards, however, considering that it was
better for the confusion of the devil not to disturb the
purpose of so many years, he prayed and said to the
supposed boy that spoke to him : " Listen, boy ! I

1 Lit. the sabbath. Cf. Socr. V. 22 : " For although almost all
churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on
the sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and
at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do
this. The Egyptians in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and the
inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious assemblies on the
sabbath, but do not partake of the mysteries in the manner usual
among Christians in general : for having eaten and satisfied them-
selves with food of all kinds, in the evening making their offerings
they partake of the mysteries. 35 Cf. Soz. VII. 19, The evidence
of these historians leads us to the conclusion that an agape combined
with the Eucharist is intended in the present passage. For a recent
discussion see art. " Agape " in E, R. E. 9 by Bp. Maclean, who
quotes the Acts of Pionius (| 250 A.D.) for a Saturday agape.

The remarkable phrase in the text, " this brother's agape, " seems
to point to one brother being responsible for providing the food at
the agape.

2 I.e. of mercy ; cf, Lk. xiii. 15, xiv. 5,

MACARIUS OF EGYPT 73

believe in the God Whom I serve, that if you are in need
God will send you help and neither will hyamas harm
you nor any one else. But if you are a temptation, God
will reveal the matter now." And he shut the door and
went in. But the demon, put to confusion at the defeat,
dissolved into a dust-storm and into wild-asses jumping
and fleeing and emitting yells. This was the conflict
of the blessed Nathanael, this his manner of life, this
his end.

CHAPTER XVII

MACARIUS OF EGYPT 1

[i] I HESITATE either to speak or write the many
great and incredible events that happened in connec-
tion with those famous men, the two Macarii, lest I
should incur the suspicion of being a liar; indeed the
Holy Spirit has declared that "the Lord destroys all
them that speak falsehood. 7 ' 2 So do not disbelieve me,
most believing one, for I am not lying. Of these
Macarii the one was an Egyptian by race, the other
an Alexandrian, 3 a seller of sweetmeats.

[2] First of all I will tell of the Egyptian, who lived
a full ninety years. Of these he spent sixty in the desert,
having retired there as a young man of thirty. And he
was counted worthy to possess such great discernment
that he was called the "aged youth." Because of this
also he made the quicker progress. For when he was
forty years old he received grace to contend against the
evil spirits both by healing and forecasting the future,
Also he was counted worthy of the priesthood.

[3] He had two disciples with him in the inner desert

1 Lived 300-390. The Homilies and Epistles attributed to
Macarius are apparently his work. Cf. Hist. Mon. XXVIIT,,
Soz. III. 14.

a Fs, v. 6 (7). " 3 I. e* a Greek,

74 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

called Scete. There was always one of them at his
service near at hand because of those that came to be
healed, while the other rested in an adjoining cell. After
some time had elapsed, having seen into the future
with prophetic eye, he said to the man who waited on
him, named John, who afterwards became a priest in
the place of Macarius himself: "Listen to me, brother
John, and bear with my warning; for you are being
tempted and the spirit of covetousness is tempting you.
[4] I have seen this, and I know that if you will bear
with me you will be perfected in this place and glorified,
' neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling ' ] 1 but
if you will not listen to me, the end of Gehazi shall
come upon you, of whose illness you are even now
sick." 2 Now it came to pass when fifteen or twenty
years had elapsed after the death of Macarius that he
disobeyed, and accordingly after robbing the poor fund
contracted elephantiasis, so that there was not found on
his body a whole part, on which one could put his finger.
So this is what the holy Macarius prophesied, [5] Now
concerning eating and drinking it is superfluous to relate,
seeing that not even among the indolent is it possible to
find gluttony or carelessness in these regions, owing both
to the scarcity of necessaries and the zeal of the in-
habitants. But concerning the rest of his asceticism I
do speak, for he was said to be in a continual ecstasy
and to spend a far longer time with God than with things
sublunary. The following marvels are told of him.

[6] A certain Egyptian, enamoured of a lady 3 married
to a husband, and being unable to seduce her, consulted
a magician, saying : "Lead her to love me, or contrive
that her husband reject her," And the magician having

1 Ps. xc, (xcL) 10. a 2 Kings v, 27.

a &.u0epaf yvmiK&$ } a free woman, or, perhaps better, a woman
of good position.

MACARIUS OF EGYPT 75

received a sufficient sum, used magic spells and arranged
for her to take the form of a mare. The husband having
come in and seen her was surprised that a mare lay on
his bed. He weeps and laments ; he talks to the animal,
but gets no reply. He calls in the priests 1 of the village.
[7] He brings them in, shows her to them, but does not
discover what has happened. During three days she
neither took fodder as a mare nor bread as a human
being, thus deprived of both forms of nourishment
Finally, that God might be glorified and the virtue of
the holy Macarius appear, it entered into her husband's
heart to take her into the desert. And having put a
halter on her as upon a horse, he led her into the
desert. When they came near, the brethren stood
by the cell of Macarius, struggling with the woman's
husband and saying: [8] "Why did you bring this
mare here ? ;; He said to them : " That she may
receive mercy." They said to him : " What is the
matter ? " The husband answered them : " She was
my wife and was turned into a mare, and to-day is the
third day that she has tasted nothing." They referred
the matter to the saint, who was praying within. For God
had revealed the matter to him and he was praying for
her. The holy Macarius therefore answered the brethren
and said to them : " You are horses, since you have
the eyes of horses. [9] For she is a woman and has
not been transformed, except in the eyes of deluded
men." And he blessed water, 2 and pouring it from the
head downwards on to her bare skin he prayed. And

. Possibly == elders, in a secular sense, as Budge
interprets the Syriac. On much of the land of Egypt the culti-
vators formed a corporation, separate for each village, which was
responsible to the Government, irpecrftitrepot. were at their head,
and they had a secretary, jpa^arevs. See Mitteis-Wilcken,
Grundzuge und ChrestomatMe der Papyrushunde^ I. i. 275 f.
a Holy water; cf. holy oil in XII. I, XVIII. n, 22.

76 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

immediately he made her appear to all as a woman.
Then giving her food he made her eat and sent her away
with her husband thanking the Lord. And he advised her
thus : "Never give up the church, never stay away from
the Communion. For these things happened to you
because you did not attend the mysteries for five weeks,"

[10] Here is another example of his asceticism. He
made in the course of time a tunnel running under the
ground from his cell for half a stade and finished it off
at the end with a cave. And if ever a crowd of people
troubled him, he would leave his cell secretly and go
away to the cave and no one would find him. Now one
of his zealous disciples told us this, and said that he
used to say twenty-four prayers on his way to the cave
and twenty-four as he returned.

[n] A report was prevalent concerning him that he
raised a dead man, in order to persuade a heretic who
did not acknowledge that there was a bodily resurrection.
And this report was current in the desert.

Once a young man possessed with a devil was brought
to him by his lamenting mother, bound to two young
men. And the devil had this method of working. After
eating three bushels of bread and drinking a beaker of
water, 1 he would belch out the food and dissolve it into
vapour, for in this way what had been eaten and drunk
was dissolved as it were by fire. [12] For there is a
class (of demons) called fiery. Since there are differences
among demons, as also among men, not of nature but
of character. This young man then, not receiving
enough food from his mother, often ate his own dirt
and drank his own water. As then his mother wept and
implored the saint, he took the lad and prayed over him
beseeching God. And after a day or two, the malady

1 Ki\ifd(riov >5Tos. Butler marks the word as of uncertain
meaning-

MACAB1US OF ALEXANDRIA 77

having eased a little, the holy Macarius said to her :
[13] "How much do you want him to eat?" She re-
plied: "Ten pounds of bread/' So having rebuked
her, saying this was too much, and having prayed over
him with fasting for seven days, he put him on to (a
regime) of three pounds, with obligation to work. And
so having cured him he restored him to his mother.
And this wonder God wrought through Macarius. I
never met him, for he had fallen asleep a year before my
entry into the desert.

CHAPTER XVIII

MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA 1

[i] BUT I did meet the other Macarius, the Alexan-
drian, a priest of the place called Cellia. I sojourned in
this Cellia nine years. 2 He survived for three years of
my stay there. And some things I saw (for myself),
some I heard from him, and some things again I heard
from others. This then was the method of his asceticism.
If ever he heard of any feat, he did the same thing,,
perfectly. For instance, having heard from some that
the monks of Tabennisi all through Lent eat (only)
food that has not been near the fire, he decided for
seven years to eat nothing that had been through the fire,
and except for raw vegetables, if any such were found,
and moistened pulse he tasted nothing. [2] Having
practised this virtue to perfection, he heard about another
man, that he ate a pound of bread. 3 And having broken
up his ration-biscuit 4 and put it into a vessel with a
narrow mouth, 5 he decided to eat just as much as his

* SeeJKs*. Mon. XXX., Soz. III. 14.

8 Palladius went to Cellia in 390 or 391: Butler, II. 245.

8 " Only one pound of bread each day" (Syriac).

4 fiovKKcXXarov, a hard biscuit used by soldiers.

8 The text is doubtful, but this is clearly the meaning.

7 8 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

hand brought out. And he would tell the story thus in
a joking manner : " I seized hold of a number of pieces,
but I could not extract them all at once by reason of the
narrowness of the opening, for like a tax-gatherer it would
not let me." 1 So for three years he kept up this practice
of asceticism, eating four or five ounces of bread and
drinking as much water, and a pint of oil in the year.

[3] Here is another practice of his. He determined
to dispense with sleep, and he told us how he did not go
under a roof for twenty days, that he might conquer
sleep, being burnt up by the sun's heat and shrivelled up
with cold by night. And he used to say this : " Unless I
had soon gone under a roof and got some sleep, my
brain would have so dried up as to drive me into
delirium for ever after. And I conquered so far as
depended on me, but I gave way so far as depended on
my nature that had need of sleep."

[4] As he sat early in the morning in his cell, a
mosquito settled on his foot and stung him. And feeling
the pain he squashed it with his hand after it was full of
blood. So, accusing himself for having taken vengeance,
he condemned himself to sit naked for six months in
the marsh of Scete, which is in the great desert. The
mosquitos there are like wasps, and even pierce the hides
of wild boars. So then he was bitten all over and
developed so many swellings that some thought he had
elephantiasis. Returning to his cell after six months, he
was recognized by his voice that it was Macarius himself.

[5] Once he desired to enter the garden-tomb of
Jannes and Jambres, 2 so he told us. But this garden-
tomb had once belonged to the magicians who had

1 " The narrow opening of the jar took toll of the handful of
bread that had come up so far " (Turner).

2 For the legendary history of these magicians see the commen-
taries on 2 Tim. iii. 8 and Schiirer, History of the Jewish People,
II. iii 150.

MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA 79

great power long ago with Pharaoh. Forasmuch then as
they had the power for long periods, they built their
work with stones faced four-square, and made their
tomb there, and stored away much gold. They also
planted trees, for the place is rather damp, and they dug
a well besides, [6] Since therefore the saint did not
know the way, he followed the stars by a kind of guess-
work, crossing the desert, as one does at sea. Taking a
bundle of reeds he planted them one each mile as
landmarks in order to find his way as he returned. So
having travelled nearly nine days he approached the
place. Then the demon, who always withstands the
athletes of Christ, collected all the reeds and put them
at his head as he slept about a mile from the garden-
tomb. [7] So he arose and found the reeds, God
having allowed this perhaps to try him further, that he
might not trust in reeds, 1 but in the pillar of cloud that
led Israel forty years in the desert. He used to say ;
"Seventy demons carne out from the garden-tomb to
meet me, shouting and fluttering like crows against my
face and saying : ( What do you want, Macarius ? What
do you want, monk ? Why have you come to our
place? You can't stay here.' I told them/' he said,
" ' Let me just go in and look round and go away/
[8] So," he said, " I went in and found a little brazen
jar suspended and an iron chain against the well, rusted
already by time, and some pomegranates with nothing
inside because they had been dried up by the sun." So
then he turned back and went on his way for twenty
days. But when the water which he was carrying failed
him and also the loaves, he was in great distress.
And when he was nearly collapsing there appeared to
him a maiden, so he declared, wearing a pure white

1 Possibly an allusion to Mt. xi. 7, "a reed shaken with the
wind."

8o THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

robe and holding a cruse dripping with water. [9] He
said she was some distance, about a stade, away from
him, and he went on for three days, gazing at her as she
stood with the vessel and being unable to catch her up,
as happens in dreams ; 1 but he lasted out sustained
by the hope of drinking. After her appeared a herd of
antelopes, one of which with a calf stopped there are
many in those regions. And he said that her udder was
flowing with milk. So, creeping under her and sucking,
he was satisfied. And the antelope went as far as his
cell, giving him milk, but not allowing her own calf to
suck.

[10] On another occasion, while digging a well near
to some vegetable shoots, he was bitten by an asp.
Now this beast is able to cause death. And having
taken it with both hands he seized it by the jaws and
pulled it in pieces, saying to it : " When God did not
send you, how did you dare to come ? })

Now he had several cells in the desert : one in Scete,
the great interior desert, and one in the Libyan desert,
and one at the so-called Cellia, and one on Mount Nitria.
Some of these are without windows, and in these he was
said to sit during Lent in darkness. Another was too
narrow for him to stretch out his feet in it. Another, in
which he met his visitors, was more spacious.

[u] He healed so great a crowd of demoniacs that
they cannot be counted. When we were there a high-
born maiden was brought from Thessalonica, paralyzed
for many years. He rubbed her for twenty days with
holy oil 2 with his own hands, praying the while, and
sent her back to her city restored to health. After she
had gone she sent him many generous gifts.

1 Read &$ ^ ovdpav in place of &s wl r&v hpiwv of Butler's
text.

8 Cf. XII. I, XVIII. 22.

MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA Si

[12] Having heard that the monks of Tabennisi had
a splendid rule of life, he changed his clothes and put on
the secular garments of a workman, and went a fifteen
days' journey to the Thebaid, travelling through the
desert. And having come to the monastery of the
Tabennesiots he asked for their archimandrite, Pacho-
mius by name, a man of great reputation and possessing
the gift of prophecy though the story of Macarius had
not been revealed to him. So meeting him he said :
" I pray you, receive me into your monastery that I may
become a monk." [13] Pachomius said to him : "You
have already reached old age, 1 and you cannot be an
ascetic. The brethren are ascetics and you cannot
endure their labours. You will be offended and will
depart, cursing them/' And he did not receive him
either the first day or the second, till seven days had
passed. But he persisted in waiting, fasting (all the
time), and at last he said to him : " Receive me, father,
and if I do not fast as they do and work, order me to be
driven out," He persuaded the brethren to admit him ;
now the total number (of the occupants) of the first
monastery was 1,400 men 2 and remains so up to this day.
[14] Well, he entered. When a little time had passed,
Lent came on and he saw each man practising different
ways of asceticism one eating in the evening only,
another every two days, another every five, another again
standing all night but sitting down by day. So having
moistened palm-leaves in large numbers, he stood in a
corner and until the forty days were completed and Easter
had come, ate no bread and drank no water, neither knelt
down nor reclined, and apart from a few cabbage leaves

1 Butler concludes that Macarius was aged 40-45 at the time, so
that he could not be termed old.

2 The first or head monastery where Pachomms lived was now
Pabau, not Tabennisi. In XXXII. 8, Palladius makes the number
1300.

F

82 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

took nothing, and them only on Sunday, that he might
appear to eat. [15] And if ever he went out in obedi-
ence to nature, he quickly came in again and took his
stand, speaking to no one and not opening his mouth
but standing in silence. And, apart from prayer in his
heart and the palm-leaves in his hands, he was doing
nothing. All the ascetics therefore, seeing this, raised
a revolt against the superior, saying : " Where did you
get this fleshless man from, to condemn us? Either
drive him out, or know that we are all going." Pachomius,
therefore, having heard the details of his observance,
prayed to God that the identity of the stranger might be
revealed to him. [16] And it was revealed; and he
took him by the hand and led him to the house of
prayer, where the altar was, and said to him, "Here,
good old man, you are Macarius and you hid it from
me. For many years I have been longing to see you, I
thank you for letting my children feel your fist, lest they
should be proud of their ascetic achievements. Now go
away to your own place, for you have edified us sufficiently.
And pray for us." Then he went away, as asked.

[17] On another occasion he told us this story:
" Having perfected every kind of life that I desired, then
I had another desire. I desired to keep my mind for
five days only undistracted from (the contemplation of)
God. And, having determined this, I barred the cell
and enclosure, so as not to have to answer any man, and
I took my stand, beginning at the second hour. So I
gave this commandment to my mind : " Do not descend
from heaven. There you have angels, archangels, the
powers on high, the God of all ; do not descend below
heaven." [18] And having lasted out two days and
two nights, I exasperated the demon so that he became
a flame of fire and burned up all the things in the cell,
so that even the little mat on which I stood was con-

MACAE1US OF ALEXANDRIA 83

sumed with fire and I thought I was being all burned up.
Finally, stricken with fear, I left off on the third day,
being unable to keep my mind free from distraction, but
I descended to contemplation of the world, lest vanity
should be imputed to me."

[19] Once I visited this holy Macarius and found a
village priest lying just outside his cell, whose head was
all eaten away by the disease called cancer, and the
actual bone appeared on the crown of his head. He had
come to be healed and Macarius would not grant him
an interview. So I besought him : " I pray you, pity
him and give him his answer." [20] And he said to
me : " He does not deserve to be healed, for it has been
sent him as a punishment. But if you want him to be
healed, persuade him to give up taking services. For
he was taking services, though living in fornication, and
for this reason he is being punished and God is healing
his soul." 1 So when I said this to the afflicted man he
consented, and swore that he would no longer exercise
his priesthood. Then he received him and said : " Do
you believe that God is?" He said to him: "Yes."
[21] "Were you able to mock God?" "No," he
answered. He said : " If you recognize your sin and
the chastening of God, on account of which you suffered
this, reform yourself henceforward." So he confessed
his fault 2 and gave a promise that he would sin no more
nor take the service, but embrace the position of a lay-
man. Then he laid his hands on him and in a few days
he was cured and the hair grew and he went away healed.

[22] Before my eyes a young lad was brought to
him possessed by an evil spirit. So, putting one hand

1 Lit. "him."

2 Note that Macarius, though not a bishop, makes absolution,
administered by imposition of hands, and in. this case conferring
bodily as well as spiritual renewal, conditional on the sinful priest
ceasing to exercise his priestly functions.

84 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

on his head and the other on his heart, he prayed so
much that he made him hang in mid-air. Then the
boy swelled like a wine-skin and festered so that he
became a mass of erysipelas. 1 And having cried out
suddenly, he produced water through all his senses,
and calming down returned to his original size. So he
anointed him with holy oil and handed him to his
father, and having poured water upon him ordered that
he should touch neither flesh nor wine for forty days.
And so he healed him.

[23] One day vainglorious thoughts troubled him,
driving him out from the cell and suggesting to him as
if by a divine dispensation that he should visit the city
of the Romans to cure the sick, For grace acted power-
fully in him against (evil) spirits. And when for a long
while he would not obey, but was being vehemently
pressed, falling on the doorstep of his cell, he put his
feet outside and said : " Drag me, demons, pull me.
For I am not going with my feet. If you can take me,
then I will go." He swore to them: "Here I lie until
evening. Unless you shake me, I will not listen to
you." [24] So, having lain there a long while, he got
up, but when night came on they attacked him again,
and having filled a two-bushel basket with sand and
put it on his shoulders, he tramped about in the desert
Theosebius the Cosmetor, 2 an Antiochian by race, met
him and said to him : " What are you carrying, father ?
Give me the burden and don't trouble yourself." But
he said to him: "I trouble my troubler. For he is
insatiable and tempts me to go out." So having tramped
about for a long time he went into his cell, having
punished his body.

1 Reading Ipvo-nreXaroy, as suggested by Butler. The irar frvcri-
irtxcwros of the text is evidently corrupt.

* The meaning is uncertain. Sophocles in his Lexicon suggests
s, in the sense of a sweeper of a monastery.

MACARIUS OF ALEXANDRIA 85

[25] This holy Macarius told me the following for
he was a priest. " I noticed at the time of distributing
the mysteries that it was never I which gave the oblation
to Marcus the ascetic, but an angel used to give it him
from the altar. I saw only the knuckle of the donor's
hand." Now this Marcus was a young man, who learned
by heart the Old and New Testaments, exceedingly meek
and continent beyond all others. 1

[26] One day having leisure Macarius then being
in extreme old age I went off and sat by his door,
thinking him superhuman, seeing that he was so old,
and listened to what he said and what he did. He was
quite alone inside; being already a hundred years old
and having lost his teeth, he was fighting with himself
and the devil and saying : " What do you want, bad
old man? See, you have had oil and have taken
some wine. What do you want more, you white-haired
glutton ? " scolding himself. Then to the devil : " Do
I owe you anything now? You won't find anything.
Go away from me." And, as if humming to himself,
he was saying : " Here, you white-haired glutton, how
long shall I be with you ? " 2

[27] Paphnutius his disciple told us, that one day
a hyaena took her whelp, which was blind, and brought
it to Macarius. And having knocked with her head at
the door of the enclosure, she entered, Macarius sitting
outside (his cell), and threw the young one down at his
feet. And he took it and spat on its eyes and prayed,
and immediately it recovered its sight. 3 And its mother
having suckled it took it and went away. [28] And
on the next day she brought the saint the fleece of
a large sheep. 4 And the blessed Melania said this to

1 Cf. Soz. VI. 29. a Cf. Mt. xvii. 17.

8 Cf. Lk. xviii. 43.

* Cf. the story of St. Francis and the wolf of Gubbio.

86 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

me: "I got that fleece from Macarius as a gift to
a visitor. And what marvel, if He who tamed the lions
for Daniel, also made the hyaena intelligent? "

And he said, that from the day he was baptized he
never spat on the ground, 1 it being then sixty years from
his baptism. [29] As to his bodily form, he was rather
short, and beardless, having no hairs except on his lips
and the tip of his chin. For owing to the excess of his
asceticism the hairs of his beard did not even sprout.

One day, when I was suffering from accidie, I went
to him and said : "Father, what shall I do? Since my
thoughts afflict me saying, * You are making no progress,
go away from here.'" And he said to me : " Tell them,
' For Christ's sake I am guarding the walls ' " 2

I have told you these few stories out of many relating
to the holy Macarius.

CHAPTER XIX

MOSES THE ROBBER 3

[i] A CERTAIN Moses this was his name an Ethi-
opian by race and black, was house-servant to a govern-
ment official. His own master drove him out because
of his immorality and brigandage. For he was said to
go even the length of murder. I am compelled to tell
his wicked acts in order to show the virtue of his repent-
ance. Anyhow they used to say that he was leader

1 Spitting was probably as common in Mediterranean lands as it
is now, and to refrain from it seems to have been a mark of
asceticism.

2 The monks guard the walls, the rest of the Church carry on
their avocations in the city. Cf. Hist. Mon. proL 10. ** There
is no village or city in Egypt and the Thebaid, which is not
surrounded by monasteries as if by walls, and the inhabitants are
supported by their prayers as if resting on God."

3 Cf. Soz. VI. 29. Butler, II. 197, distinguishes between the
various monks of this name. Moses the Robber is the Moses
wJiose sayings are recorded in the Afiophthegmata t

MOSES THE ROBBER 87

of a robber-band, and among his acts of brigandage one
stood out specially, that once he plotted vengeance
against a shepherd who had one night with his dogs
impeded him in a project. [2] Desirous to kill him,
he looked about to find the place where the shepherd
kept his sheep. And he was informed that it was on
the opposite bank of the Nile. And, since the river was
in flood and about a mile in extent, he grasped his sword
in his mouth and put his shirt on his head and so got
over, swimming the river. While he was swimming
over, the shepherd was able to escape him by burying
himself in the sand So, having killed the four best
rams and tied them together with a cord, he swam back
again. [3] And having come to a little homestead he
flayed the sheep, and having eaten the best of the flesh
and sold the skins in exchange for wine, he drank a
quart, that is eighteen Italian pints, and went, off fifty
miles further to where he had his band.

In the end this abandoned man, conscience-stricken
as a result of one of his adventures, gave himself up to a
monastery and to such practising of asceticism that he
brought publicly to the knowledge of Christ even his
accomplice in crime from his youth, the demon who had
sinned with him. 1 Among other tales this is told of
him. One day robbers attacked him as he sat in his
cell, not knowing who it was. They were four in
number. [4] He tied them all together and, putting
them on his back like a truss of straw, brought them to
the church of the brethren, saying : " Since I am not
allowed to hurt anyone, what do you bid me do with
these?" Then these robbers, having confessed their

1 Butler says : "I am unable to illustrate or explain this curious
piece of demonology." But perhaps it is only an unusual way of
referring to the rest of the band, in whom the demon was, as it
yvere, incarnate,

88 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

sins and recognized that it was Moses the erstwhile
renowned and far-famed robber, themselves also glorified
God and renounced the world because of his conversion,
saying to themselves : " If he who was so great and
powerful in brigandage has feared God, why should we
defer our salvation?"

[5] This Moses was attacked by demons, who tried
to plunge him into his old habit of sexual incontinence.
He was tempted so greatly, as he himself testified, that
he almost relinquished his purpose. So, having come to
the great Isidore, 1 the one who lived in Scete, he told
him about his conflict. And he said to him : " Do not
be grieved. These are the beginnings, and therefore
they have attacked you the more vehemently, seeking
out your old habit. [6] For just as a dog in a butcher's
shop owing to his habits cannot tear himself away, but if
the shop is closed and no one gives him anything, he no
longer comes near it. So also with you ; if you endure,
the demon gets discouraged and has to leave you." So
he returned and from that hour practised asceticism
more vehemently, and especially refrained from food,
taking nothing except dry bread to the extent of twelve
ounces, accomplishing a great deal of work and com-
pleting fifty prayers (a day). Thus he mortified his
body, but he still continued to burn 2 and be troubled
by dreams. [7] Again he went to another one of the
saints and said to him : " What am I to do, seeing that
the dreams of my soul darken my reason, by reason of
my sinful habits ?" He said to him: "Because you
have not withdrawn your mind from imagining these
things, that is why you endure this. Give yourself to
watching and pray with fasting and you will quickly

1 This Isidore is omitted in D. C. B t See 1. 1. X, & XLVI. 2,
and Butler, II. 185. ' '

9 Cf, I Cor, vii 9.

MOSES THE ROBBER 89

be delivered from them." Listening to this advice also
he went away to his cell and gave his word that he
would not sleep all night nor bend his knees. [8] So
he remained in his cell for six years and every night he
stood in the middle of the cell praying and not closing
his eyes. And he could not master the thing. So he
suggested to himself yet another plan, and going out by
night he would visit the cells of the older and more
ascetic (monks), and taking their water-pots secretly
would fill them with water. For they fetch their water
from a distance, some from two miles off, some five
miles, others half a mile. [9] So one night the demon
watched for him, having lost his patience, and as he
stooped down at the well gave him a blow with a cudgel
across the loins and left him (apparently) dead, with no
perception of what he had suffered or from whom. So
the next day a man came to draw water and found him
lying there, and told the great Isidore, the priest of
Scete. He therefore picked him up and brought him to
the church, and for a year he was so ill that with difficulty
did his body and soul recover strength. [10] So the
great Isidore said to him : " Moses, stop struggling with
the demons, and do not provoke them." But he said to
him : "I will never cease until the appearance of the
demons ceases." So he said to him : " In the name of
Jesus Christ your dreams have ceased. Come to Com-
munion then with confidence, for, that you should not
boast of having overcome passion, this is why you have
been oppressed, for your good." [n] And he went
away again to his cell. Afterwards when asked by
Isidore, some two months later, he said that he no
longer suffered anything. Indeed, he was counted worthy
of such a gift (of power) over demons that we fear these
flies more than he feared demons. This was the manner
of life of Moses the Ethiopian; he too was numbered

90 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

among the great ones of the fathers. So he died in
Scete seventy-five years old, having become a priest ;
and he left seventy disciples.

CHAPTER XX

PAUL 1

[i] THERE is a mountain in Egypt called Pherme,
which borders on the great desert of Scete. On this
mountain dwell some 500 men, devotees of asceticism.
One of them, a man named Paul, had this manner of
life : he touched no work, and no business, nor did he
receive anything from any man beyond what he ate.
But his work and his asceticism consisted in ceaseless
prayer. So he had 300 set prayers, and he collected as
many pebbles and kept them in his lap 2 and threw out
of his lap one pebble at each prayer. 3 [2] Having
gone for an interview with Macarius, the one known as
Citizen,* he said to him : " Father Macarius, I am
afflicted." So he compelled him to say for what reason.
But he said to him : "In a certain village there dwells
a virgin who has lived the ascetic life for thirty years.
They have told me of her that except on Saturday and
Sunday * she never eats. But all the while dragging out
the long weeks and eating at intervals of five days she

1 See Butler, II. 177. This Paul is identified in one MS. with
Paul the Simple of Ch. XXII. Cf. Soz. VI. 29,

8 The fold in his garment made by the girdle.

* The earliest example of the practice now known as the Rosary.

4 See Ch. XVIII. He was so called "because he was a citizen
and was of Alexandrian origin," Soz. III. 14. That voAiTWs =
Alexandrian is striking testimony to the position of Alexandria in
relation to the rest of Egypt.

6 In his note on this passage (II. 198) Butler collects the evidence
for the observance of Saturday and Sunday in Egypt, He con-
cludes that there w^s "a practical co-ordination of the Saturday
aad Sunday*"

EULOGIUS AND THE CRIPPLE 91

makes 700 prayers. And when I learned this I despaired
of myself because I could not make more than 300."
[3] The holy Macarius answered him : " I am now
sixty years old; I make 100 set prayers and produce
my food by my own work, and give the brethren the
interviews that are their due, and my reason does not
condemn me as having neglected my duty. But if you
say 300 and are condemned by your conscience, you are
clearly not praying them with purity, or else you could
pray more and do not,"

CHAPTER XXI

EULOGIUS AND THE CRIPPLE

[r] CRONIUS the priest of Nitria told me this : When
I was young and because of accidie fled from the monas-
tery of my archimandrite, I came in my wanderings to
the mountain 1 of the holy Antony. It lay between
Babylon 2 and Heracles. 3 in the great desert that leads
to the Red Sea, about thirty miles from the River. So
having come to Antony's monastery by the River where
his two disciples dwelt at the place called Pispir I
mean Macarius and Amatas, who also buried him when
he died I waited five days for an interview with the
holy Antony. [2] For he was said to visit this monas-
tery at intervals now of ten days, now of twenty, now of
five, as God led him, to do good to those who happened
to visit the monastery. So a number of brethren were

1 Cf. Athanasius, Vit. Ant. 12, Where Antony goes to the moun-
tain, 49 and 50, where he withdraws to a high mountain, three days
and three nights away, and 91 : "but he ... having bidden fare-
well to the monks in the outer mountain, entered the inner moun-
tain, where he was accustomed to abide." The outer mountain, at
Pispir near the Nile, is here meant.

2 Just south of Cairo ; cf. I Peter v. 13, which conceivably refers
to the Egyptian Babylon.

3 I.e. Heracleopolis,

92 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

assembled, one with this need, another with that.
Among them was a certain Eulogius, a monk of Alex-
andria, and another man, a cripple, who had come for
the following reason.

[3] This Eulogius was a learned man, 1 having had
a good all-round education, 2 who smitten with a love of
immortality renounced the clamours (of the world), and
disposing of all his goods left himself a little money,
since he was unable to work. Well, suffering from
accidie and wishing neither to enter a convent nor to
reach perfection alone, he found a man lying in the
market-place, a cripple, with neither hands nor feet.
His tongue was the only part of his body that was
undamaged, and was used to appeal to the passer-by. 8
[4] So Eulogius stood and gazed at him and prayed to
God and made a covenant with God (saying) : " Lord,
in Thy name I take this cripple and comfort him until
death, that I also may be saved through him. Grant
me patience to serve him ! " And approaching the
crippled man he said to him: "Would you like me,
great one, to take you to my house and comfort you ? w
He said to him: "Yes, indeed." "Then shall I get
an ass and take you ? " He agreed. So he fetched an
ass and carried him and brought him to his own guest.
chamber and took care of him. 4 [5] Well, the cripple
lasted on for fifteen years and was nursed by him, being
washed and tended by the hands of Eulogius, and fed
in a way suitable to his malady. But after the fifteen
years a demon attacked him, and he rebelled against

s. The word is also used in the specialized sense of
"advocate."

2 & r$>v ^jKVK\io)y irfluSeufcircuy, the general education of the
Greek before he specialized on professional studies.

* Reading wpbs <rv]nirtideiav with one MS. Butler's text, irpbs
arvjAtftopdv (rtav twrvyxcwAvrdov) is difficult.

* The phrasing is reminiscent of Lk. x. 34.

EULOGIUS AND THE CRIPPLE 93

Eulogius. And he began to dress the man down with
great abuse and reviling, adding: " Assassin, 1 deserter,
you stole other folk's property, and you want to be
saved through me. Throw me into the market-place.
I want meat." He brought him meat. [6] Again he
cried out : " I am not satisfied. I want crowds. I
want to be in the market-place. Oh the violence !
Put me where you found me." If he had had hands
he would have quickly strangled him, to such an extent
had the demon infuriated him. So Eulogius went off
to the neighbouring ascetics and said to them : " What
shall I do, because this cripple has brought me to
despair ? Am I to cast him out ? I pledged myself
to God and I am afraid. But am I not to cast him
out ? He gives me bad days and nights, so that I do
not know what to do to him/' [7] But they said
to him: "While the great one is still alive" for so
they called Antony " put the cripple in a boat and go
to him, and take him to the monastery and wait till
Antony comes out from the cave and refer the case to
him. And whatever he says to you, go by his decision,
for God speaks to you by him." And he heard them
patiently, and putting the cripple into a rustic boat went
out by night from the city and took him to the monas-
tery of the disciples of the holy Antony. [8] Now it
happened that the great man came the next day in the
late evening, as Cronius had said, wrapped in a cloak
of skin. When he reached the monastery, this was his
custom, to summon Macarius and ask him : " Brother
Macarius, have any brethren come here ? " He answered
" Yes." " Egyptians or from Jerusalem ? " And he had
given him a sign : " If you see them inclined to be care-
less, say Egyptians ; but when they are more serious and

1 ffx&ffra,. Butler marks as corrupt or of uncertain meaning ;
Lucot renders "assassin."

94 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

studious, say from Jerusalem." [9] So he asked him
as usual : " Are the brethren Egyptians or from Jeru-
salem?" Macarius answered and said to him: "A
mixture." Now when he said to him " They are Egyp-
tians," the holy Antony would say to him : " Prepare
some lentils and give them a meal," and he would utter
a prayer for them and say good-bye. But when he said
"from Jerusalem," he would sit up all night, talking to
them about salvation. [10] So that night he sat down,
(Cronius) says, and called them all to him and, though
none had told him what name he bore, called out in the
dark and said "Eulogius, Eulogius, Eulogius " three
times. He, the learned man I mean, did not answer,
thinking that another Eulogius was being called. He
said to him again : " I am speaking to you> Eulogius,
the man who came from Alexandria." Eulogius said
to him: "What are your commands, I pray?" "Why
have you come ? " Eulogius answered and said to him :
"He that revealed to you my name, hath also revealed
to you my business," [n] Antony said to him: "I
know why you came. But speak before all the brethren,
that they also may hear." Eulogius said to him : " I found
this cripple in the market-place and I pledged myself to
God that I would nurse him and so be saved through
him and he through me. So since after all these years
he torments me to distraction, and I contemplated
casting him out ; on this account I came to your holi-
ness, in order that you might counsel me what I ought
to do and pray for rne, for I am terribly distressed.
[12] Antony said to him with angry and stern voice:
"Cast him out? But He Who made him does not
cast him out. Will you cast him out ? God will raise
up a man better than you, and he will succour him/ 7
Eulogius, who had been calm up till now, trembled.
And Antony leaving Eulogius began to castigate the

EULOGIUS AND THE CRIPPLE 95

cripple with his tongue and cry : " You crippled and
maimed man, deserving neither earth nor heaven, will
you not cease fighting against God ? Do you not know
that it is Christ Who is serving you? How dare you
utter such words against Christ ? Was it not for Christ's
sake that he made himself a slave to minister to you ? "
So having reprimanded him, he left him alone too. And
having conversed with all the rest about their needs he
returned to Eulogius and the cripple and said to them :
<: Do not wander about any more, go away. Do not be
separated from one another, except in your cell in which
you have dwelt so long. For already God is sending
for you. For this temptation has come upon you because
you are both near your end and are about to be counted
worthy of crowns. Do nothing else therefore, and may
the angel when he comes not find you here." So they
journeyed in haste and came to their cell, and within
forty days Eulogius died, and in three days more the
cripple died too.

[15] But Cronius, after staying in the regions round
the Thebaid, came down to the monasteries of Alexan-
dria. And it happened that the services for die fortieth
day 1 of the one and the third day of the other were
being celebrated by the brethren. Cronius learned this
and. was amazed, and having taken a gospel and put it
before the brethren took an oath, after telling what had
happened, and said : " I was blessed Antony's interpreter
in these conversations, since he does not know Greek ;
for I know both tongues and interpreted to them, speak-
ing to these two in Greek, to Antony in Egyptian.

[16] And Cronius told this story also: "In that
night blessed Antony told me this : * For a whole year I

1 Butler prefers this to "thirtieth," the other reading, since
Greek custom, ancient and modern, is to celebrate the departed on
the fortieth day. Cf. XXXIII. 4.

96 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

prayed that the place of the just and of sinners might be
revealed to me. And I saw a tall giant reaching to the
clouds, black, with his hands stretched up to heaven,
and under him a lake as vast as the sea, and I saw souls
flying like birds. [17] And as many as flew over his
hands and head were saved. But as many as were
struck by his hands fell into the lake. Then came a
voice to me saying, These souls of the righteous which
thou seest flying are the souls which are saved for
Paradise. But the others are those which are drawn
down to hell, having followed the desires of the flesh
and revenge. 7 " l

CHAPTER XXII

PAUL THE SIMPLE 2

[i] CRONIUS and the holy Hierax and a number of
others, about whom I shall presently speak, told me this
tale also. A certain Paul, a rustic peasant, exceedingly

1 It looks as if this vision was suggested by some picture with
which Antony was familiar. Dr. Wallis Budge writes to me as
follows : " The symbolism is certainly Egyptian. The god referred
to is probably that which we see in the vignettes of the seventeenth
chapter of the Book of the Dead standing with his body raised to
heaven by the side of the Lake of Maat, wherein souls were tested*
The Copts made it the Lake of damned souls. In that Michael
used to dip a wing, and all the souls who could cling to it escaped
hell. The hawk is the usual bird symbol for the soul." Cf.
3 Baruch x. if. u And when I had learned all these things from
the Archangel, he took and led me into a fourth heaven. And I
saw a monotonous plain, and in the middle of it a pool of water.
And there were in it multitudes of birds of all kinds, but not like
those here on earth. . . . The plain ... is the place where the
souls of the righteous come;" also Sanhedrin 92b. "And the
soul may say : The body has sinned ; for since I am separated from
it I fly in the air like a bird."

2 Cf. Hist. Mon. XXXI, Soz. I. 13. Reitzenstein, Hellenist-
ische Wundeverzahtungen, pp. 59-6 1 , discusses this story. Paul the
Simple is to be distinguished from Paul the Hermit, whose life
Jerome wrote, and who was, according to Jer, ; Ep. 22, the
originator of the monastic life.

PAUL THE SIMPLE 97

guileless and simple, was wedded to a most beautiful
woman of depraved character, who for a very long
while concealed her sins from him. However, Paul
came in suddenly from work 1 and found his wife and
her lover 2 behaving shamefully, Providence thus guiding
Paul to what was best for himself. And laughing
discreetly he called to them and said : " Good, good.
I don't mind, truly. By Jesus, I'll take her no longer.
Go, you have her and her children, for I am going to
become a monk." [2] And saying nothing to anyone
he hastened along the eight stages 3 and went to the
blessed Antony and knocked at the door. He came
out and asked him : " What do you want ? " He said
to him : (t I want to become a monk." Antony answered
and said to him : " You are an old man, sixty years old ;
you cannot become a monk here. But rather go back
to your village and work and live an active life giving
thanks to God, for you cannot endure the tribulations of
the desert." The old man answered again and said :
"Whatever you teach me, I will do it." [3] Antony
said to him : "I have told you that you are an old man
and cannot stand it If you really want to become a
monk, go to a cenobium with a number of brethren,
who can support your weakness. For I live here alone,
eating after a five days' fast, and that without satisfying
my hunger." With these and such-like words he tried to
frighten Paul away and, since he could not endure him,
Antony shut the door and did not go out for three
days because of him, not even for necessary purposes.
But Paul did not go away. [4] But on the fourth day
necessity compelling him he opened the door and went

1 g aypov. Cf. Mk. xv. 21, Simon the Cyrenian coming civ* aypov.

2 Greek, avrovs.

8 povcis. Cf. the meaning sometimes given to poval in Jn.
xiv. 2, **In My Father's house are many stopping-places (on the
road to perfection).

98 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

out and said to him again : " Go away from here, old
man. Why do you annoy me ? You cannot stay here."
Paul said to him : "It is impossible for me to die else-
where than here." So Antony looked about and noticed
that he' had not with him any form of nourishment,
neither bread nor water, and that he was now in the
fourth day of his fast, and saying : " Lest perchance you
die and stain my soul," he received him. And Antony
adopted in those days a regime which he had never tried
in his youth. [5] And having moistened some palm-
leaves he said to him : " Take these, weave them into
mats, as I do." The old man wove until the ninth
. hour, laboriously completing ninety feet. 1 So Antony
looked and was displeased and said to him : " You have
woven badly, unpick them and weave them over again "
imposing this nauseous task upon him, 2 though he
was hungry and aged, in order that he might be dis-
gusted and flee away from Antony. But he both
unpicked and wove again the same leaves, though it was
more difficult, because they were all shrivelled up. 3
And Antony, seeing that he neither murmured nor was
discouraged nor angry, felt compunction. [6] And after
sunset he said to him : " Would you like us to eat a
piece of bread ? " Paul said to him : " As you please,
father." And this again moved Antony, that he did not
rush eagerly at the mention of food, but had thrown the
power (of choice) upon him. So he laid the table and
brought in bread. And Antony, having put out the
biscuits, weighing six ounces each, moistened one for
himself for they were dry and three for Paul. And
Antony struck up a psalm which he knew, and after

1 opyvias

^ radnjy ^irayay^v T\\V CTTJ^IV, lit. "having brought this nausea on
him." So Butler, who however is not certain of the meaning 1 .
8 Lit. " wrinkled," 5i& ri> ty'pvrtiuff&ai.

PAUL THE SIMPLE 99

singing it twelve times he prayed twelve times, to test
Paul. [7] But he eagerly joined in the prayer, for he
would have preferred being eaten by scorpions, so I
think, to living with an adulterous woman. But after
the twelve prayers they sat down to eat late in the even-
ing. Now Antony, having eaten the one biscuit, did
not touch another. But the old man, eating more
slowly, was still at his little biscuit. Antony was waiting
for him to finish and says to him: "Eat, father, a
second biscuit." Paul says to him : "If you will eat, I
will too ; if you do not eat, I will not." Antony says :
" I have had enough, for I am a monk." [8] Paul says
to him : " I too have had enough, for I too want to
become a monk." He rises again and prays twelve
prayers and chants twelve psalms. Antony sleeps a
little of his first sleep and then gets up to sing psalms at
midnight until day. So when he saw the old man
eagerly following his mode of life he said to him: "If
you can do thus every day, stay with me." Paul said to
him : "If there is anything more, I do not know; for I
can do easily these things which I have seen." Antony
said to him the next day : " Behold, you have become a
monk."

[9] So Antony, convinced after the required number
of months that Paul had a perfect soul, being very
simple and grace co-operating with him, made him a
cell, three or four miles away, and said to him : " Behold,
you have become a monk ; remain alone in order that
you may be tried by demons." So Paul dwelt there
one year and was counted worthy of grace over demons
and diseases. Among other cases, a demoniac was
once brought to Antony, exceedingly terrifying, pos-
sessed by a spirit of high rank, who cursed even heaven
itself. [10] So Antony, having examined him, said to
those who brought him : " This is not my work, for I

ioo THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

have not yet been counted worthy of power over this
order of high rank, but this is Paul's business." So
Antony went off and led them to Paul, and said to him :
"Father Paul, cast out this demon from the man that
he may go away cured to his home." Said Paul to
him: "What are you doing?" Antony said to him:
" I have no leisure, I have something else to do."
And Antony left him and went again to his own cell.
[n] So the old man got up, and having prayed -an
effective prayer, addressed the demoniac: "Father An-
tony has said, * Go out from the man.' " But the demon
cried out, saying with blasphemies : tf I am not going
out, bad old man." So Paul took his sheep-skin coat
and struck the man on the back with it saying : " Father
Antony has said, c Go out/" Again the demon cursed
with some violence both Antony and him. Finally he
said to him: "You are going out; or else I'll go and
tell Christ. By Jesus, if you don't go out I am going
this very minute to tell Christ, and He will do you
harm." [12] Again the demon cursed yet more, say-
ing: "I am not going out" So Paul got angry with
the demon and went outside his dwelling at high noon.
But the heat of the Egyptians is akin to the furnace of
Babylonia. 1 And standing on a rock on the mountain
he prayed and said : " O Jesus Christ, Who wast cruci-
fied under Pontius Pilate, thou seest that I will not
descend from the rock, I will not eat nor drink till I
die, unless Thou drive out the spirit from the man and
free the man." [13] But before the words were out of
his mouth the demon cried out, saying : " Oh violence !
I am being driven away. The simplicity of Paul drives
me away, and where am I to go ? " And immediately
the spirit went out and was turned into a great dragon
seventy cubits long and was swept away to the Red Sea,
1 Dan. iii.

PACHON 101

that the saying might be fulfilled: "The righteous will
declare the faith that is shown/' 1 This is the marvel-
lous tale of Paul who was surnamed Simple by all the
brotherhood.

CHAPTER XXIII

PACHON 2

[i] THERE dwelt in Scete a man named Pachon, who
had reached his sixtieth year or thereabouts. Now I
happened to be dejected, having been tormented by the
love of women, both in my (waking) thoughts and my
nocturnal visions. And I was nearly leaving the desert,
passion driving me, yet I did not refer the matter to my
neighbours, nor to my teacher Evagrius. But I jour-
neyed secretly into the great desert and spent fifteen
days in meeting the fathers who had grown old in the
desert at Scete. [2] Among others I met Pachon.
Well, finding him more guileless and better versed in
asceticism than the rest, I was bold to refer to him the
state of my mind. And he said to me : " Let not the
affair disconcert you, for you are not suffering this from
negligence. For the place is a witness in your favour,
both because of the lack of necessaries and the absence
of facilities for meeting women. But rather it comes
from your zeal. For the war against impurity is triple.
At one time the flesh attacks us because it is vigorous ;
at another the passions attack us through our thoughts ;
at another the demon himself in malice. I have found
this after much observation. [3] Look how you see
me, an old man now, I have spent forty years in this
cell caring for my own salvation, and growing to be as
old as this I have been tempted all the while." And

1 Prov. xii. 17 (LXX). a Cf. Soz. VI. 29.

102 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

he said this, confirming it with an oath: "For twelve
years after my -fiftieth year the demon gave me no
respite in his attacks by night and day. Supposing
therefore that God had left me and on this account I
was under his power, I preferred to die in an irrational
manner rather than act improperly through bodily pas-
sion. And having gone out and explored the desert I
found a hyaena's cave. In which cave I laid myself
down naked in the daytime, in order that the beasts
when they came out might eat me. [4] So, when even-
ing came, as it is written : ' Thou madest darkness and
night came : in it all the beasts of the forest will roam ; l
the beasts came out, male and female, and smelt me,
licking me from head to foot. And when I was ex-
pecting to be eaten up, they left me. So having lain
down all night, I was not eaten. But reckoning that
God had spared me, I returned again to the cell. Well,
the demon, having restrained himself a few days, then
attacked me again more vehemently than at first, so
that I very nearly blasphemed. [5] He changed him-
self into an Ethiopian maiden, whom I had once seen
in my youth in the summer-time picking reeds, and sat
on my knee. 2 So in a fury I gave her a blow and she
disappeared. Well, for two years I could not bear the
evil smell of my hand ! So I went out into the great
desert, wandering up and down discouraged and in
despair. And having found a little asp, I picked it
up and applied it to my flesh, 3 in order that I might
die, even though it were by a bite of this kind. And I
rubbed the beast's head on my flesh, 4 as the cause of
my temptation, but I was not bitten, [6] Then I
heard a voice saying in my thoughts : ( Go, Pachon,

1 Ps, ciii, (civ.) 20,

2 The rest of the sentence is : Kal fal rocrouroV jue

STEPHEN 103

struggle on, For this is why I have left you to be
tyrannized over, that you should not be proud, as if
you had any strength, but recognizing your weakness
should not trust in your manner of life, but run for the
help of God.' Thus convinced I returned and dwelt
in confidence, and no longer troubling about the war
I was. in peace the rest of my days. But he, knowing
how I despised him, no longer came near me."

CHAPTER XXIV

STEPHEN l

[i] ONE Stephen, a Libyan by race, dwelt on the
shores of Marmarica 2 and the Mareotis for sixty years.
He became an ascetic of great eminence with a gift of
discernment, and was counted worthy of such a gift of
grace that every afflicted man, whatever his affliction,
went away free from affliction after meeting him. Now
h^was known to the blessed Antony; and he lived on
also to our own days. I never met him, because his
place was so far away. [2] But the holy Ammonius
and Evagrius and their companions, who met him, told
me the following : " We found him suffering from an
illness like this, having developed an ulcer of the sort
called cancerous. We discovered him being treated by
a doctor, and working with his hands and weaving palm-
leaves and talking to us, while the rest of his body was
being operated on. He was behaving just as if another
man were being cut. Though the flesh was cut away
like hair, he was insensible, thanks to the greatness of
his religious preparation. [3] But while we were on
the one hand grieving and on the other hand feeling

1 Cf. Soz. VI. 29.

2 The country between Egypt and Cyrenaica.

104 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

disgusted that such a life had ended in such suffering
and such surgical operations, he said to us : ' Children,
do not be troubled by this affair. For God does nothing
of what He does for malice, but for a good end. For
perhaps my flesh deserves chastisement, and it is fitting
that it should pay the penalty now rather than when
I have quitted the arena.' 1 So he edified us with his
exhortations and encouragements," But I have told
this lest we should be disconcerted when we see saints
suffering such afflictions.

CHAPTER XXV

VALENS

[i] THERE was a man named Valens, a Palestinian
by race, but Corinthian in his character for St. Paul
attributed the vice of presumption to the Corinthians.
Having taken to the desert he dwelt with us for a num-
ber of years. He reached such a pitch of arrogance
that he was deceived by demons. For by deceiving rlim
little by little they induced him to be very proud, sup-
posing that angels met him, [2] One day at least, so
they told the tale, as he was working in the dark he let
drop the needle with which he was stitching the basket.
And when he did not find it, the demon made a lamp,
and he found the needle. Again, puffed up at this, he
waxed proud and in fact was so greatly puffed up that he
despised the communion of the mysteries. Now it
happened that certain strangers came and brought sweet-
meats to the Church for the brethren. [3] So the holy
Macarius our priest received them and sent a handful
or so to each of us in his cell, among the rest also to
Valens. When Valens received the bearer he insulted

1 Stephen, assumes purgatorial pains even for the righteous.

VALENS 105

him and struck him and said to him : " Go and tell
Macarius, ( I am not worse than you, that you should send
me a blessing.' " 1 So Macarius, knowing that he was the
victim of illusion, went the next day to exhort him and
said to him : " Valens, you are the victim of illusions.
Stop it," And when he would not listen to his exhorta-
tions, he retired. [4] So the demon, convinced that he
was completely persuaded by his deception, went away
and disguised himself as the Saviour, and came by night
in a vision of a thousand angels bearing lamps and a
fiery wheel, in which it seemed that the Saviour appeared,
and one came in front of the others and said : " Christ
has loved you because of your conduct and the freedom
of your life, and He has come to see you. So go out of
the cell, do nothing else but look at his face from afar,
stoop down and worship, and then go to your cell."
[5] So he went out and saw them in ranks carrying
lamps, and antichrist about a stade away, and he fell
down and worshipped. Then the next day again he
became so mad that he entered into the church and
before the assembled brotherhood said : " I have no
need of Communion, for I have seen Christ to-day."
Then the fathers bound him and put him in irons for
a year and so cured him, destroying his pride by their
prayers and indifference and calmer mode of life. As it
is said, " Diseases are cured by their opposites." 2

[6] But it is necessary to insert in this little book the
lives of men like this, for the safety of the readers, in the
same way as there was the tree of knowledge of good and
evil among the holy trees of paradise ; in order that, if
ever a righteous act should be achieved by them, they

ta. is used specially of pain Mnit^ and in a wider sense of
religious gifts, such as a monk gives or receives.

2 This proverb, which goes back to Hippocrates, is quoted by
several Fathers,

io6 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

may not be proud of their virtue. For often, even virtue
becomes the cause of a fall, whenever it is not accom-
plished with upright intention. For it is written : " I
saw a just man destroyed in his just act ; and this thing
is indeed vanity." 1

CHAPTER XXVI

HERON 2

[i] THERE was a certain Heron, a neighbour of mine,
an Alexandrian by race, an excellent young man, of
good natural ability and pure in his life. He also after
many toils was attacked by pride and flung off all re-
straints and cherished presumptuous sentiments against
the father s } insulting even the blessed Evagrius by saying :
" Those who obey your teaching are dupes \ for one
should not pay heed to any teachers except Christ."
He even abused Scripture to serve the purpose of his
folly and would say : " The Saviour Himself said, * Call
no man teacher upon the earth,' " a [2] His mind be-
came so darkened that he too was afterwards put in irons,
since he was unwilling even to attend the mysteries
truth is dear. He was excessively abstemious in his mode
of life, so that many who knew him intimately declared
that he frequently went three months without eating,
being content with the communion of the mysteries and
any wild herbs that might be found. And I too had
an experience of him when I went to Scete with the
blessed Albanius. [3] Scete was forty miles away from
us. 4 In the course of those forty miles we ate twice and
drank water three times, but he without eating anything

1 Eccl. vii, 16, 7 (LXX).

.* Cf. Cassian, Coll. II. 5, where a monk called Heron is
mentioned. It is not certain that they are to be identified.
8 Mt. xxiii. 9. 4 I.e., probably, from Cellia.

PTOLEMY 107

went on foot and said by heart fifteen psalms, then the
long psalm, 1 then the Epistle to the Hebrews, then
Isaiah and part of Jeremiah, then Luke the Evangelist,
then the Proverbs. And things being so, yet we could
not keep up with him as he walked. [4] Finally, driven
as it were by fire, he could not remain in his cell, but
went off to Alexandria, by (divine) dispensation, and, as
the saying goes, "knocked out one nail with another."
For of his own free will he fell into indifference, but
afterwards found salvation involuntarily. For he fre-
quented the theatre and circuses and enjoyed the
diversions of the taverns. And thus, eating and drink-
ing immoderately, he fell into a mire of concupiscence.
[5] And when he was resolving to sin he met an actress
and had converse with her. In consequence a carbuncle
developed on his private parts, and for six months he
was so ill that the parts rotted away and fell off. Later,
restored to health without those parts and returned to a
religious frame of mind, he came and confessed all these
things to the fathers. A few days after he fell asleep
before he had returned to work.

CHAPTER XXVII

PTOLEMY

[i] AGAIN another monk, Ptolemy by name, lived a
life difficult, even impossible, to describe. He dwelt
beyond Scete in a place called Climax. 2 The place
which bears this name is one in which no one can live
because the well of the brethren is eighteen miles away.
He then, carrying a number of pots 3 brought them there,
and collecting the dew with a sponge from the rocks

1 Ps. cxviii. (cxix.). 2 "The Ladder.

See XVII. 1 1.

io8 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

during the months of December and January for there
is a plentiful fall of dew then in those parts he made
this suffice during the fifteen years he lived there. [2]
And he became a stranger to the teaching of holy men
and intercourse with them, and the benefit derived there-
from, and the constant communion of the mysteries, 1 and
diverged so greatly from the straight way that he declared
these things were nothing ; but they say 2 he is wandering
about in Egypt up to the present day all puffed up with
pride, and has given himself over to gluttony and
drunkenness, speaking no (edifying) word to anyone. 3
And this disaster fell on Ptolemy from his irrational
conceit, as it is written : "They who have no directing
influence fall like leaves." 4

CHAPTER XXVIII

A VIRGIN WHO FELL

AGAIN, I knew a virgin in Jerusalem who wore sack-
cloth for six years and shut herself up in a cell, taking
none of the things that bestow pleasure. In the end
she fell, abandoned (by God) because of her excessive
arrogance. She opened the window 'and admitted the
man who waited on her and sinned with him, because
she had practised asceticism not with a religious motive
and for the love of God, but with human ostentation, 5
which springs from vain-glory and corrupt intention.
For, her thoughts being engrossed in condemning others,
the guardian 6 of her chastity was absent.

1 Cf. XVII. 9, where a five weeks' absence is enough to call
down punishment.

2 The translation is approximate only j the text is quite uncertain.

3 jw?5/i ^Sej/ 6[u\ovvroi. * Prov. XL 14 (LXX).
5 KaT& ffKyvtyv avQpwrtvTjv, lit. on a human theatre or stage.

9 7, t. guardian angel.

ELIAS 109

CHAPTER XXIX

ELIAS

[i] ELIAS, an ascetic, was a great friend of the
virgins. For there are some souls like this, whose
virtuous aims testify to their goodness. He had com-
passion on the class of women ascetics, and having
property in the city of Athrib^ x built a great monastery
and brought into the monastery all the dispersed women,
caring for them consistently (with his purpose), and pro-
cured them every kind of refreshment, and gardens and
utensils and whatever their life required. These ladies,
brought from different sorts of lives, had continual
fights with one another. [2] Now since he was obliged
to listen to them and make peace for he collected some
300 of them he found it necessary to remain in their
midst for two years. Being still young, for he was some
thirty to forty years old, he was tempted by desire. And
having left the monastery he wandered fasting in the
desert for two days, making this request in his prayer :
" Lord, either kill me, that I may not see these women
in trouble, or take away my passion that I may care for
them in a rational way." [3] When evening had come,
he fell asleep in the desert, and three angels came to
him so he told the story and caught hold of him
and said : " Why did you leave the monastery of the
women?" He explained the matter to them. "Be-
cause I was afraid I might harm both them and myself."
They said to him : " Then if we relieve you of the

1 "We cannot be certain whether the Athribe" here mentioned
was Athribis in the Delta, or Atrip6, also called Athribis, near
Panopolis. But in all probability it was the latter. Atrip was on
the west bank of the Nile nearly opposite to Panopolis (Akhimm),
at 26 30' N. Latitude. Here was Schenoudi's great White Monas-
tery, the ruins of which are still standing. Schenoudi established
also a convent of nuns at Atrip6, and the story in the text may
possibly refer to this convent" (Butler).

no THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

passion, will you go and care for them ? " He agreed
to this. They made him swear an oath, [4] He said
this was the oath : " Swear to us, by Him Who cares for
me I will care for them." And he swore to them.
Then one of them seized his hands, and another his
feet, and a third taking a razor unmanned him, not
really but in the vision. So he seemed to himself to
have been cured, so to say, in the trance. They asked
him: "Do you feel any benefit?" He said to them :
" I feel greatly lightened and am persuaded that I am
relieved of my passion/' [5] They said to him : " Go
away, then." And he returned after five days, the
monastery mourning for him the while, and went in and
remained inside henceforward, in an adjoining cell, from
which being near at hand he corrected them continually
so far as he could. But he lived forty years more,
always assuring the fathers : " Passion comes no more
into my mind." Such was the gift of grace of that holy
man who thus looked after the monastery.

CHAPTER XXX

DOROTHEUS

HE was succeeded by Dorotheus, a well-tried man
who had grown old in a good and active life. Not
being able to stay in the monastery itself, as Elias had
done, he shut himself up in an upper chamber and
made a window looking on to the women's monastery,
which he used to shut and open. So he would sit
continually at the window reminding them to keep the
peace. And so he grew old up there in the upper
chamber, without either the women going up to him
or himself being able to come down to them. For there
was no ladder fixed.

PIAMOUN in

CHAPTER XXXI

PIAMOUN

[i] PIAMOUN was a virgin who lived the years of her
life with her mother, eating every other day 1 in the
evening and spinning flax. She was accounted worthy
of the gift of prophecy, of which this is an example. It
happened once in Egypt during the overflow (of the
Nile) that one village attacked another. For they fight
over the distribution of the water, 2 so that murders and
woundings ensue. Well, a stronger village attacked
her village, and men came in a crowd with spears and
clubs to destroy her village. [2] But an angel appeared
to her, revealing to her their attack. And, sending for
the elders 3 of the village, she said : " Go out and meet
the men who are coming against you from that village,
lest you also perish with the village, and urge them to
cease from their malice." But the elders were afraid
and fell at her feet beseeching her and saying to her :
u We dare not meet them \ for we know their drunken-
ness and madness. [3] But if you have pity both on
the whole village and your own house, go out yourself
and meet them." Not agreeing to this, she went up to
her own cottage it was night at the time and stood
continually in prayer, not kneeling down, and beseeching
God thus: "O Lord, Who judgest the earth, to Whom
no unjust act is pleasing, when this prayer reaches
Thee, let Thy power nail these men to the spot where-
ever it finds them." [4] And about the first hour,

1 play Trapa ^la.v. So Turner, who rejects Butler's rendering
"once a day."

2 See Mitteis-Wilcken, Grundzuge und Chrestomathie der
Papyyuskunde, I. i. 273, for the different categories ofland, which
was classified according as it got an excessive, normal, or deficient
supply of flood water.

3 TTpefffiwripovs. See note on XVII. 6. It can hardly mean
priests here, though Lucot so translates.

ii2 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

when they were about three miles away, they were
nailed to the ground and could not move. And it was
revealed also to them that this hindrance had come
to them through her petitions. And they sent to the
village and asked for peace, declaring : " Give thanks to
God and the prayers of Piamoun, for they hindered us."

CHAPTER XXXII

PACHOMIUS AND THE TABENNESIOTS

[i] TABENNisi 1 is a place, so-called, in the Thebaid,
in which there lived a certain Pachomius, one of those
who have lived in the straight way, so that he was
counted worthy both of prophecies and angelic visions.
He was exceedingly devoted both to his fellow-men and
his brethren. Accordingly, to him as he sat in his cave 2
an angel 3 appeared and said : " You have successfully
ordered your own life. So it is superfluous to remain
sitting in your cave. Up ! go out and collect all the
young monks and dwell with them, and according to the
model which I now give you, so legislate for them;"
and he gave him a brass tablet on which this was
inscribed

[2] "Thou shalt allow each man to eat and drink
according to his strength; and proportionately to the
strength of the eaters appoint to them their labours.

1 Near Denderah on the Nile. See Introduction, p. 23, and
Ladeuze, Etude sur U CinoHtism& pakhomien, passim, The
error that Tabennisi was an island goes back to some MSS. of
Sozoznen, III. 14, which have Ta&tywr) UTJCTOS.

* He was with Palsemon at the time.

3 Ladeuze considers the Greek Vita Paohomii the source of the
other versions, and the Rule* in its various recensions to be inferior
in authority to the Lives. The angel here seems to him legendary,
since he is not mentioned in the Lives (p. 257). But cf. Gennadius,
de vir. illus., 7.

PACHOMIUS AND THE TABENNESIOTS 113

And prevent no man either from fasting or eating.
However, appoint the tasks that need strength to those
who are stronger and eat, and to the weaker and more
ascetic such as the weak can manage. Make a number
of cells within the enclosure and let three dwell in each
cell. 1 But let them all go to one building for their
food. [3] Let them sleep not lying down full length,
but let them make sloping chairs easily constructed and
put their rugs on them and thus sleep in a sitting
posture. 2 And let them wear at night linen lebitons*
and a girdle. Let each of them have a worked goat-
skin cloak, 4 without which they are not to eat. When
they go to Communion on Saturday and Sunday, let
them loosen their girdles and lay aside the skin cloak
and go in with the cowl 5 only." And he prescribed
for them napless cowls, as for children, on which he
ordered an imprint, the mark of a cross, to be worked
in dark red. [4] And he ordered that there should be
twenty-four sections, 6 and to each order he assigned a
letter of the Greek alphabet alpha, beta, gamma, delta,
and so on. 7 So when the Superior asked questions, or

1 It is clear from the Lives that the brethren lived in houses,
within which each had a separate cell : Ladeuze, p. 263 f.

3 Pachomius himself observed neither the sleeping nor clothing
regulations as given here, Ladeuze, p. 264. See Cassian, Inst,
Book I. for the dress of the Egyptian monks.

3 The Aej8iTc6v was a sleeveless garment, akin to or identical with
the KoXdfttov.

4 jUTyAwrV alyetav elpyafffjLfvrjy.

5 KQVKO-&XIQV* ' ' Un tres court mantelet " (Ladeuze). A hood was
attached, for it was used to cover the head at meals : see below.

8

7 Ladeuze, pp. 264 fT., throws doubt on this classification. It is
derived from the Greek alphabet, of which Pachomius was probably
ignorant. There is no trace of it in Jerome's Latin version of the
Rules. Jerome indeed tells of a special alphabet used by Pachomius
in his correspondence with the superiors of the monasteries ; but
these signs stood for other things besides the classes of monks.
" Peut-etre est-ce trompe" par une mauvaise interpretation de ces
lettres de Pakh6me et des superieurs de ses couvents, que Pallade,

ii 4 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

busied himself with the affairs of the great multitude,,
he asked the second: "How Is the Alpha section?"
or, " How is the Zeta ? " or again : " Greet the R.ho," and
they followed a private meaning assigned to the letters,
"And to the simpler and more unworldly thou shalt
give the Iota, and to the more difficult and perverse
thou shalt assign the XL" [5] And so, in correspond-
ence with the nature of their dispositions and manners
and lives, he fitted the letters to each section, only the
spiritual knowing what was meant. And it was written
on the tablet : " A stranger of another monastery which
has a different rule is not to eat with them, nor drink,
nor enter into the monastery, unless he happens to be
on a (genuine) journey." 1 However, the man who has
come to remain with them they do not allow to enter
into the sanctuary for three years, 2 But after a three
years' probation and performance of the more toilsome
labours, then he enters. [6] "As they eat let them
cover their heads with their cowls lest one brother see
another chewing. A monk is not allowed to talk at
meals nor let his eye wander beyond his plate or the
table." And he ordered them during the whole day to
make twelve prayers, and twelve at the lamp-lighting,
and twelve at the night-vigils, and three at the ninth
hour. But when a group was about to eat he ordered
a psalm to be sung before each prayer. 3

superficiellement renseigne" d'ailleurs sur les moines de Tabennisi,
a invente la regie que nous avons examinee,"

Butler is not convinced by Ladeuze/s depreciation of Palladius*
version of the Rules (II. 206), and in the Cawibridge Medieval
History, I. 524 (1911), speaks of it as " probably the most authentic
epitome."

1 To exclude professional wanderers, gyrovagi.

In the Lives Pachornius receives visitors from other forms of
monasticism freely, Ladeuze, p. 264.

s No trace of this in the Lives or Jerome ; Ladeuze, p. 28 1 .

* See Butler, II., p. 207 f., for a discussion of these prayers.
Palladius* version conflicts with Cassian's.

PACHOMIUS AND THE TABENNESIOTS 115

[7] When Pachomius objected to the angel that the
prayers were few, the angel said to him : " I gave this
rule so as to make sure in advance that even the little
ones keep the rule and are not afflicted. 1 But the per-
fect have no need of legislation, for by themselves in
their cells they have surrendered the whole of their life
to the contemplation of God. But I have legislated for
as many as have not a discerning mind, in order that
they, like house-servants fulfilling the duties of their
station, may live a life of freedom."

Now there are a number of these monasteries which
have observed this rule, amounting to 7000 men. 2 But
the first and great monastery is that where Pachomius
himself dwelt, which itself also is the parent of the other
monasteries; it has 1300 members. 3 [8] Among them
there was also the noble Aphthonius, who became my
intimate friend, and is now second in the monastery.
Him they send to Alexandria, since nothing can make
him stumble, in order to sell their produce and buy
necessaries. [9] But there are also other monasteries
two hundred or three hundred strong. One of these,
with 300 monks, I found when I entered the city of
Panopolis, [In the monastery I found fifteen tailors,
seven smiths, four carpenters, twelve camel-drivers, and
fifteen fullers.] 4 But they work at every kind of craft
and with their surplus output they provide for the needs
both of the women's convents and the prisons. [10]
[They keep pigs too, and when I blamed the practice,

1 Cf. the Benedictine Rule, which was Intended only to be " a
little rule for beginners," minima inchoationis regula,

* Cassian, Inst. t IV. I, says more than 5000 j Jerome, in prologue
to the Latin version of the Rule, 50,000.

3 Cf. XVIII. 13, where the number is given as 1400. The
monastery where Pachomius dwelt was Pabau, not Tabennisi ;
Palladium is in error.

4 The passages in square brackets are apparently genuine, though
omitted in some MSS.

n6 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

they said : " In our tradition we have received this, that
they are to be kept because of the chaff, and the refuse
of the vegetables and other scraps that one throws away,.
lest they be wasted. 1 And the pigs are to be killed and
their meat sold, but the tit-bits are to be devoted* to the
sick and aged, because the neighbourhood is poor and
populous j for the tribe of the Blemmyes live near.]
[n] But those who are to serve that day rise early and
get to their work, some to the kitchen, others to the
tables. They spend their time then until the meal-hour
in arranging and preparing the tables, putting loaves on
each, and charlock, preserved olives, cheese of cows'
milk, [the tit-bits of the meat], and chopped herbs.
Some come in at the sixth hour and eat, others at the
seventh, others at the eighth, others at the ninth, others
at the eleventh, others in the late evening, others every
other day, so that each letter knows its own hour. 2
[12] So also is it with their work. One works on the
land as a labourer, another in the garden, another at the
forge, another in the bakery, another in .the carpenter's
shop, another in the fuller's shop, another weaving the
big baskets, another in the tannery, another in the shoe-
maker's shop, another in the scriptorium, another weaving
the young reeds, And they learn all the scriptures by
heart,

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE TABENNESIOT NUNS 3

[i] THEY also had a monastery of women with some
400 members; it had the same constitution and the

1 Geosge Herbert's Country Parson keeps pigs for the same
reason (Priest to the Temple* Ch. X.).

2 In point of fact, says Ladeuze (p. 298 f.), they ate together
twice a day at the same time.

3 There were three Tabennesiot nunneries ; Butler is inclined to
identify this one with Tismenae, where there was a monastery of
Pachomian monks, mentioned, In the Viia Pachowii*

THE TABENNESIOT NUNS 117

same manner of life, 1 except for the sheep-skin coat.
And the women are on the far side of the river, 2 the
men opposite them. So when a virgin dies, the (other)
virgins, having prepared her body for burial, act as bearers
and lay it on the river bank. But the brethren, having
crossed in a ferry boat, with palm-leaves and olive-
branches, take the body across, singing psalms the while,
and bury it in their own cemetery. But apart from the
priest and the deacon no man goes across to the women's
monastery, and they only on Sunday.

[2] In this women's monastery the following thing
happened. A tailor, living in the world, crossed the
river in ignorance and sought work. A young sister
came out the place was deserted 3 and met him in-
voluntarily and gave him the answer: "We have our
own tailors." 4 [3] Another sister saw the meeting;
and when some time had elapsed and a contention
arose, actuated by diabolic motives inspired by great
wickedness and an outburst of temper, she denounced
the other before the sisterhood. A few others also
joined her from malice. So that sister, distressed at
having endured a calumny of a kind that had never
even entered her thoughts, and being unable to bear it,
flung herself into the river secretly and lost her life.
[4] Likewise the calumniator, recognizing that her
calumny was wicked, and that she had committed this
abomination, went and hung herself, she too being

1 Pachomius wrote out the rules and sent them to his sister in
the nunnery. At the head of the nunneries Pachomius, and later
Theodore, placed an aged and discreet monk to instruct the women
and explain the Scripture to them. He was aided by other monies
for the services, etc. Ladeuze, p. 303. Cf. Gennadius, de vir. ittus.
7 : Pachomius scripsit regularn utrique generi monachorum aptam.

2 See Clarke, St. Basil the Great, pp. 104 f,, for a similar
arrangement in Cappadocia and Pontus.

3 So no one else was available.

* They would make the men's clothes, as in the Basilian doubly
monasteries ; see Clarke, op. cit. p. 105,

n8 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

unable to bear (the shame of) the affair. So when the
priest came the rest of the sisters told him the affair.
And he ordered first that the sacrifice should not be
offered for either of them ; and as for those who had
not kept the peace, since they had been accomplices of
the calumniator and had believed the scandal, he sepa-
rated them (from the rest) for seven years, depriving
them of Communion. 1

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE NUN WHO FEIGNED MADNESS

[i] IN this monastery there was another virgin who
feigned madness and possession by a demon. And they
detested her so much that they would not even eat
with her, she preferring this. She would wander about
in the kitchen and do every kind of menial work, and
she was, as they say, " the monastery sponge," fulfilling
in fact the words of Scripture : " If any one seem to be
wise among you in this world, let him become foolish
that he may be wise." a She fastened some rags on her
head all the rest had the tonsure and wore cowls and
served in this guise. [2] None of the 400 sisters ever
saw her chewing during the years of her life. She never
sat at table, nor partook of a piece of bread, but wiping
up the crumbs from the tables and washing the kitchen
pots she was content with what she got in this way.
Never did she insult any one nor grumble nor talk either
little or much, although she was cuifed and insulted and
cursed and execrated.

[3] Now an angel appeared to the holy Piteroum, an
anchorite of high reputation who dwelt in Porphyrites, 3
i Cf. XXI. 15. * i Con iiL lSr

3 On the shores of the Red Sea. Piteroum may perhaps be
identical with. Pityrion the disciple of Antony, mentioned in
Hist. Mon. XVII, .

THE NUN WHO FEIGNED MADNESS 119

and said to him : " Why are you proud of yourself for
being religious and dwelling in a place like this ? Do
you want to see a woman who is more religious than
you ? Go to the monastery of the Tabennesiot women
and there you will find a woman wearing a crown on
her head. She is better than you. [4] For though
she spars with so great a crowd, she has never let her
heart go away from God. But you sit here and wander
in imagination through the different cities." 1 And he
who had never gone out went off to that monastery and
besought the masters 2 to let him go to the monastery of
the women. They, were emboldened to let him in, since
he was famous and advanced in years, [5] And having
gone in he demanded to see them all. But she did
not appear. At last he said to them : " Bring me all, for
there is one lacking." They said to him : " We have one
within in the kitchen, a sate" 3 For thus they style the
mentally afflicted. He said to them : " Bring her also to
me. Let me see her." They went off to call her. She
did not answer, perhaps perceiving what was the matter,
or even having had a revelation. They drag her forcibly
and say to her : " The holy Piteroum wants to see
you 57 ; for he was famous. [6] When she came, he
perceived the rag on her forehead and fell at her feet
and said to her: "Bless me." She also fell at his
feet in like manner, saying : " Do you bless me, Master."
They were all amazed and said to him : "Father, do not
let her insult you, she is sale? Said Piteroum to them
all : " You are sak, For she is mother 4 both of me

1 Reitrenstein, Hell. Wundererz.* p. 77, says this story is ascribed
to Sarapion in the Syriac Life of Sarapion. See XXXVIL 5, which
speaks of the continual wanderings of Sarapion.

2 The senior monks who were responsible for the discipline ot
the nuns.

3 ffa\6$. " As a title it was bestowed upon certain holy men who
feigned idiocy for Christ's sake, the most distinguished of whom
was Simeon the Fool " (Sophocles).

* dynast the feminine equivalent of d&&<xs.

120 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

and you" for thus they call the spiritual women
"and I pray to be found worthy of her in the day of
judgment." [7] Having heard these words they fell
at his feet, all confessing in different ways : one that
she had poured the rinsings of the plate over her;
another that she had beaten her with her fist ; another
that she had applied a mustard-plaster to her nose.
And, in a word, all confessed outrages of one kind or
another. So after praying for them he went away. And
after a few days, unable to bear her glory and the
honour bestowed by the sisters, and burdened by their
apologies, she left the monastery. And where she went,
or where she disappeared to, or how she died, no one
knows.

CHAPTER XXXV

JOHN OF LYCOPOLIS 1

[i] THERE was a certain John in Lycopolis, who in
his childhood learned the trade of carpentering he had
a brother a dyer. Later, when he was about twenty-five
years old, he renounced the world. And having lived
in various monasteries for five years he retired by him-
self to the mountain of Lyco, where he made himself
three cells on the actual summit and went in and
immured himself. One chamber was for his bodily
needs, and another where he. worked and ate, and the
third where he prayed. [2] Having completed thirty
years thus immured, and receiving the necessaries of
life through a window from one who ministered to him,
he was counted worthy of the gift of predictions,
Among other instances he sent various predictions to

* Otherwise called St. John of Egypt. Cf . Hist. Mon. I. ; Cas-
sin, Inst IV. aj^g. Coll I, 31, XXIV, 36, I^ycopolis is th*
modem Asyut ? r *

JOHN OF LYCOPOLIS 121

he blessed emperor Theodosius, 1 one concerning Max-
imus the tyrant, that he would conquer him and return
from the Gauls ; similarly also he gave him good news
about the tyrant Eugenius. His reputation as a virtuous
man was widespread.

[3] When we were in the desert of Nitria by we
I mean myself and the blessed Evagrius and his com-
panions we were anxious to find out accurately, in
what his virtue consisted. Then said the blessed Eva-
grius : " Gladly would I be learning what kind of man
he is, from some one who knows how to test character
and speech. For if I am unable to see him myself, but
can hear accurately from another's description the details
of his manner of life, then I will not go so far as the
mountain." I heard, and saying nothing to anyone kept
silence for one day ; but the next day, having closed
my cell and committed myself and it to God, I hastened
away to the Thebaid. [4] And I arrived after eighteen
days, having gone partly on foot, and partly by boat on
the river. But it was the time of the flood, when many
are ill ; which was also my experience. Well, I went
and found the vestibule of his cell closed ; for the
brethren built on later a very large vestibule holding
about 100 men, and shutting it with a key they opened
it on Saturday and Sunday. So, having learned the
reason why it was closed, I waited quietly till the
Saturday. And having come at the second hour for
an interview I found him sitting by the window, through
which he seemed to be exhorting 2 his visitors. [5] So,

1 Cf. a characteristic passage in Gibbon, Decline and Fall,
Ch. XXVII. : "Before he formed any decisive resolution, the pious
emperor was anxious to discover the will of heaven ; and as the
progress of Christianity had silenced the oracles of Delphi and
Dodona, he consulted an Egyptian monk, who possessed, in the
opinion of the age, the gift of miracles and the knowledge of
futurity . . . The accomplishment of the prediction was forwarded
by all the means that hijman prudence could supply,"

a Or " consoling," r

122 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

after greeting me, he said through an interpreter l :
"Whence are you? and why have you come? For I
conjecture that you belong to the convent of Evagrius."
I said : "I am a stranger who started out from Galatia."
And I confessed that I belonged to Evagrius' society.
Meanwhile, as we talked, the ruler 2 of the district carne
up, Alypius 3 by name. He turned to him and left off
talking with me. So I retired a little and gave way to
them, standing some way off. As their conversation
lasted a long time, I became disgusted, and in my
disgust I murmured against the good old man, since
he despised me and honoured him. [6] And annoyed
in mind at this, I formed the plan of going away, dis-
daining him. But having called his interpreter, named
Theodore, he said to him; "Go, tell that brother, 'Do
not be petty-minded. I am just going to dismiss the
ruler and talk to you. 7 " So I resolved to wait patiently,
attending to him as a spiritual man. And when the
ruler had gone, he called me and said to me: "Why
are you vexed with me ? What did you find worthy of ,
blame, that you thought those things that neither applied
to me nor befitted you ? Or do you not know that it
is written : ' They that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick ' ? * I find you when I want you,
and you me. And if I do not console you, there are
other brethren to console you and other fathers. But
this man is delivered up to the devil through his worldly
affairs and, having respite for a brief hour, like a servant
run away from his master, he has come to receive
benefit It would have been absurd that we should leave

1 Butler suggests that Palladius knew Coptic, but not Sahidic,
the dialect of Upper Egypt

a The Jiyenw of the Thebaid, according to Diocletian's arrange-
ments, was responsible to the faapxos of Alexandria, the civil head
of the country. See Mitteis-Wilcken, I. i. 73.

See Butler, I. 296, * Lk. v. 31.

JOHN OF LYCOPOLIS 123

him and attend to you, when you have uninterrupted
leisure to attend to your salvation." So I exhorted him
to pray for me and was fully convinced that he was
a spiritual man. [8] Then, having affectionately slapped
my left cheek gently with his right hand, he said to me :
" Many afflictions are in store for you, and many times
have you been tempted to leave the desert. And you
have been timid and have deferred (a decision). But
the demon by providing you with pious and specious
excuses unsettles you. For he suggested to you both
a longing to see your father, and the instruction of your
brother and sister with a view to the monastic life.
[9] Behold then, I give you good news : both are saved,
for both have renounced the world* And as regards
your father, at this very moment he still has other years
to live. So continue in the desert and do not wish on
their account to go home to your native land, for it is
written : * No man having put his hand to the plough
and turning back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.' ;; 1
So, benefited by these words and sufficiently corrected,
I thanked God, having learned that the pretexts which
were driving me were finished with.

[10] Then again he said to me graciously; "Do you
want to become a bishop ? " I said to him : " I am
one." He said to me: -"Where?" I said; "(I am
bishop) over the kitchens, the shops, the tables and the
pots. I am their bishop, and if there is any sharp wine
I excommunicate it, but I drink the good. Similarly, I
am bishop over the pot too j and if salt or any seasoning
is lacking, I throw it in and season (the pot) and then
I eat it. This is my bishopric, for gluttony ordained
me." [n] He said to me with a smile: "Stop your
jokes. You have to be ordained bishop, and toil much
and be afflicted. If then you would escape afflictions,
1 IA. ix, .13,

i2 4 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

depart not from the desert. For in the desert no man
can ordain you bishop."

So I left him and went into the desert to my accus-
tomed place, and told these things to the blessed fathers,
who after two months went by boat and met him. But
I forgot his words, for after three years I fell ill with an
illness of the spleen and stomach. [12] I was sent by
the brethren from the monastery to Alexandria, under
treatment for dropsy. The doctors advised me to betake
myself from Alexandria to Palestine for the sake of the
air. For (Palestine) has light airs, such as befit our
constitution. From Palestine I came to Bithynia, and
there I know not how, whether from human zeal or
from the good pleasure of Him Who is more powerful,
God would know I was counted worthy of the laying-on
of hands, so much above my deserts, 1 having become
embroiled in the disturbance connected with the blessed
John. 2 [13] And for eleven months hidden in a gloomy
cell I remembered that blessed man, that he had fore-
told these things which I endured. And indeed he told
me this, designing by his tale to lead me to endure the
desert. " Forty years have I spent in the cell. I have
not seen the face of woman nor the appearance of
money. I have seen no one chewing, nor has any one
seen me eating or drinking."

[14] When Poemenia the servant of God came to
interview him, he did not meet her, but he had a number
of secret matters told to her. And he enjoined her,
when she went down from the Thebaid not to turn aside
to Alexandria, "for you will fall into temptation." But
she, thinking differently, or forgetting, turned aside to
Alexandria to see the city. But on the way she moored

i TTJS tiirep e/jie xeiporovlas. Or perhaps only = "laying of hand
upon me."

POSIDONIUS 125

her boats near Niciopolis 1 to rest. [15] So her servants
went on shore and after some disorderly behaviour had
a fight with the people of the place, who were desperate
characters. They cut off the ringer of one eunuch and
murdered another, and even threw Dionysius the most
holy bishop into the river, not recognizing him, and after
wounding all the other servants, loaded the lady herself
with insults and threats.

CHAPTER XXXVI

POSIDONIUS

[i] THE stories about Posidonius the Theban are
many and hard to relate, how meek he was and how
exceedingly ascetic, and what great innocence of soul
he possessed I do not know if I have met any such.
For I lived with him at Bethlehem for one year when
he dwelt beyond Poemenion, 2 and I beheld his many
virtues. [2] Among other things he himself told me
this one day: "Living for a year in the Porphyrites
district, the whole year I met no man, heard no talk,
touched no bread. I merely subsisted on a few dates
and any wild herbs I found. This happened one day.
My food failing, I went out from the cave to go back
to the world. [3] And having walked all the day with
difficulty did I get two miles from the cave. -Well,
looking round I saw a horseman with the appearance of
a soldier, having on his head a helmet in the shape of a
tiara. And expecting him to be a soldier, I ran to the
cave and found (on the way) a basket of grapes and
newly-picked figs. I picked it up and went to the cave
overjoyed, and had that food as my comfort for two

1 Half- way between Memphis and Alexandria.

2 J, e, the traditional site of the appearance of the angels to the
shepherds.

126 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

months. [4] And this was the miracle he did in
Bethlehem. A certain woman approaching her confine-
ment had an unclean spirit and, when she was actually
about to be delivered, she had difficult labour, the spirit
tormenting her. The husband, therefore, since his wife
was suffering from the demon, came and besought that
holy man to come. So he stood up we were present,
having come at the same time to pray and prayed, and
after kneeling down for the second time he drove out
the spirit. [5] So he stood up and said to us : "Pray,
for at this moment the unclean spirit is going out, and
there should be a sign, that we may be convinced." So
the demon on his way out of her threw down the whole
wall of the precincts, foundations and all. Now the
woman had been six years without speech. After the
demon had gone out she gave birth to a child and
spoke.

[6] I knew also the following prophecy spoken by
this man. A certain Jerome, a priest, distinguished
Latin writer and cultivated scholar as he was, showed
qualities of temper so disastrous that they threw into
the shade his splendid achievements. 1 Well, Posidonius,
who hadt lived with him many days, said in my ear:
"The noble Paula, who looks after him, will die first
and be freed from his bad temper, so I think. [7] And
because of this man no holy man will dwell in these
parts, but his envy will include even his own brother."
The thing happened as he said. For, in fact, he drove
out the blessed Oxyperentius the Italian, and another
man Peter, an Egyptian, and Simeon, admirable men,
whom I noticed with approval at the time. This Posi-
donius told me that he had not tried bread for forty
years, nor indeed had he borne malice for half a day.

1 Palladius* unfavourable opinion of Jerome was reciprocated : see
Butler, I. 173 f., and II. 213.

SARAPION THE SINDONITE 127

CHAPTER XXXVII

SARAPION THE SINDONITE 1

[i] THERE was another monk, Sarapion, and he was
surnamed the Sindonite, for apart from a sindon (loin-
cloth) he never wore clothes. He practised great detach-
ment from possessions and, being well educated, knew
all the Scriptures by heart. And through his great
detachment "and his meditation on the Scriptures he was
unable to remain calmly in the cell; not because he
was distracted by material things, yet none the less he
travelled up and down the world and perfected this type
of asceticism. For he was born with this nature; for
there are differences of natures, not of substances.

[2] The fathers used to relate how, taking an ascetic
as his accomplice, 2 he sold himself to some Greek actors

1 Perhaps the most interesting of all Palladius' tales. See Butler,
II. 214 f. Abbe Nau has shown that Sarapion, not Paphnutius,
converted the famous courtesan Thais. Now the tombs of Sarapion
and Thais have been discovered side by side at Antinoe : seeArchteo-
logical Report (1900-1901) of the Egypt Exploration Fund, p. 77.
The bodies lie in the Muse"e Guimet at Paris and are probably those
of the famous couple.

Reitzenstein, Hell, Wundererz. t pp. 64 f., says that the whole
story is impossible in its present connexion. An exaggerated
modesty characterizes the Egyptian monks, and this is an old Cynic
tale put into a Christian setting. Possibly he is right, but he does
not seem to allow sufficiently for the fact that "extremes meet."
Butler's woids are worth quoting: "I had looked upon Palladius'
account of Sarapion's life and travels as extravagant and impossible,
until a little time ago I met a Hindu Renunciant, a well-educated
high-caste Brahmin, who on a religious mission travelled from India
to Europe clad in what may be described as pyjamas and a brown
dressing gown, with shoes and skull-cap, carrying no money nor
anything besides the clothes he wore and an umbrella : he arrived
in London with no money, no luggage, no friends, no introductions j
yet he managed to effect the purpose of his journey, and said he
had no doubt he would get back to India somehow. What Palladius
tells of Sarapion's adventures is hardly more wonderful than this."

* Aa/J^v nya <rvfjvxa.lKTqv affKV)T'f)v, Reitzenstein finds this sus-
picious and a sign that the story has been borrowed from an older
collection. This female companion incomprehensibly disappears;

128 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

in a certain city for twenty pieces of money. And having
sealed up the money he kept it on his person. Then
he stayed a long while and served as slave to the actors
who had bought him, until he both made them Christians
and induced them to leave the stage. All the time he
took nothing except bread and water, nor did his lips
rest from expounding the Scriptures. [3] After a long
period, first the man was stricken with compunction,
then the actress, then the whole house. But it was said
that as long as they did not know him he washed the
feet of them both. So both were baptized and gave up
the stage, and applying themselves to an honourable
and pious life they revered the man exceedingly and said
to him : " Here, brother, let us free you, since you your-
self have freed us from disgraceful slavery." He said to
them : " Since God has wrought this, and your soul is
saved, let me tell you the mystery of my conduct. [4] I
pitied your soul, being myself an ascetic, a free man, an
Egyptian by race, and I sold myself for this reason, that
I might save you. But since God has done this, and
your soul has been saved through my humiliation, take
back your money, that I may go away and help others."
But they used many entreaties and assured him : "We
will have you as father and master, only stay with us."
But they could not persuade him. Then they said to
him : " Give the money to the poor, for it has been our
first payment for salvation ; but come and see us, if only
once a year."

[5] In the course of his incessant wanderings 1 he
came to Greece, and during a three days' stay at Athens
no one thought fit to give him bread; he carried no

she is out of place here, but would be quite in place as a sub-
introducta of an earlier century. Krottenthaler echoes Reitzenstein.
It is sufficient to remark that <rvp.iraiKrpta and acr/c^T/na are the
feminine forms.
* Cf. XXXIV. 4.

SAE.APION THE SINDONITE 129

money, no purse, no sheep-skin coat nothing of the
kind. So when the fourth day came he was very hungry ;
for hunger unwillingly endured is terrible, if it has an
ally x in the fact that no one believes you. And stand-
ing on an eminence in the city, where the authorities
were collecting, he began to lament violently, clapping
his hands, and to call out : " Men of Athens, help ! "
[6] And all ran to him, wearers of the philosopher's
cloak and labourer's smock alike, 2 and said to him :
"What is the matter? Whence are you? What ails
you ? " Said he to them : " By race I am an Egyptian.
After I left my real country I fell in with three usurers.
And two left me having got their debt in full, with no
accusation to make. But one does not leave me." So,
inquiring minutely about the usurers in order that they
might satisfy them, they asked him : "Where are they?
and who are they ? Who is it that troubles you ? Show
him to us that we may help you." [7] Then he said
to them: "From my youth covetousness and gluttony
and fornication have troubled me. From two am I
freed, covetousness and fornication ; they trouble me no
longer. But I cannot get free from gluttony. For this
is the fourth day that I have not eaten, and my stomach
continues troubling me and seeking its habitual debt
without which I cannot live." Then certain of the
philosophers, supposing it to be acting, gave him money.
And having received it he put it down in a baker's shop,
and having got one loaf he resumed his journey and
left the city at once and never more returned to it.

1 Reading o-vp^axov with a number of MSS. cfvy^yopoy of
Butler's text is difficult to translate.

2 rptfta>vo<p6poi re Kal Ptppo<pdpoi> Syriac, ** the free men and the
soldiers." The &lppos was a coarse outer garment. Lucot (on
LXIII. 2) quotes Herwerden, who translates it sagum, a garment
worn by servants, also by soldiers; and the lex vestiaria of the
Code of Theodosius (382) which allowed slaves to wear only the
birrus and cucullus.

i 3 o THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

[8] Then the philosophers recognized that he was truly
virtuous, and giving the baker the price of the bread
they took the piece of money. 1 But having come to
the country where the Spartans live, he heard that one
of the first men 3 of the city was a Manichasan with all
his house, though virtuous in other respects. To him
again he sold himself as he had done at first ; and within
two years he induced him to forsake his heresy, and
brought him to the Church and his wife also. Then
they loved him no longer as a servant, but treated him
as a true brother or father and glorified God.

[9] One day he flung himself into a vessel as if he
had a right to sail to Rome. The sailors, thinking that
either he had paid his fare or had the price of it in cash,
received him without trouble, each thinking that another
had taken his luggage. But when they had sailed away
and got 500 stades from Alexandria the passengers
began to eat about sundown, the sailors having eaten
first. [10] They saw that he did not eat the first day,
and expected it was because of the voyage; 3 similarly
on the second, third and fourth days, On the fifth day
they saw him sitting quietly while all ate and said to
him: "Why are you not eating, man?'' He said to
them: "Because I have nothing," So they inquired
one of another : " Who received his luggage or his fare ? "
[n] And when they found that no one had they began-
to attack him and say : " How did you come on without
paying? From what source can you give us the fare?
Or from what source can you get fed?" He said to
them: "I have nothing. Pick me up and throw me
where you found me. 37 But they would not willingly
have relinquished their voyage, even for 100 gold pieces,

1 To keep as a sacred relic.

a Reading TWO, T&V vrpf&Ttoy with, Turner.

3 J. ff. seasickness.

SARAPION THE SINDONITE 131

but they wanted to get to their destination. So he
remained in the ship and found that they fed him until
(they got to) Rome.

[12] So having come to Rome he inquired who was
a great ascetic in the city, man or woman. Among
others he met also a certain Domninus, a disciple of
Origen, whose bed healed sick persons after his death.
So he met him and was benefited, for he was a man of
refined manners and liberal education, and learning from
him what other ascetics there were, male or female, he
was told of a certain virgin who cultivated solitude and
would meet no one. 1 [13] And having learned where
she lived he went off and said to the old woman who
attended her: "Tell the virgin, 'I must meet you, for
God has sent me. ? " So after waiting two or three days
at last he met her, and said to her: "Why do you
remain stationary ? " She said to him : " I do not
remain stationary, I am on a journey." He said to her :
"Where are you journeying?" Said she to him: "To
God." He said to her: "Are you alive or dead?"
She said to him : " I trust in God that I am dead, for
no one who lives to the flesh shall make that journey."
He said to her: "Then do what I do, that you may
convince me that you are dead." She said to him :
"Order me possible things, and I will do them," [14]
He answered her : " All things are possible to a dead
person except impiety." Then he said to her : " Go out
and appear in public." She answered him: "This is
the twenty-fifth year that has passed without my appear-
ing in public. And why should I appear ? " " If you
are dead to the world," said he to her, " and the world to
you, 2 it is all the same to you whether you appear or
appear not. So appear in public." She did so, and

1 For a sketch of a virgin living a similar life at Rome, see
Jerome's account of Asella in Ep. 24. 2 Cf. Gal. vi. 14.

i 3 2 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

after she had appeared outside and gone as far as a
church, he said to her in the church : te Now then, if you
wish to convince me that you are dead and no longer
live pleasing men, 1 do what I do and I shall know that
you are dead. [15] Follow my example and take off
all your clothes, put them on your shoulders, go through
the middle of the city with me leading the way in this
fashion." 2 She said to him : "I should scandalize many
by the unseemliness of the thing and they would be able
to say, ' She is mad and possessed by a demon.' " He
answered her : "What does it concern you if they say,
She is mad and possessed by a demon ? 7 For you are
dead to them." Then she said to him : " If you want
anything else I will do it \ for I do not profess to have
reached this stage." [16] Then he said to her: "See
then, no longer be proud of yourself as more pious than
all others and dead to the world, for I am more dead
than you and show by my act that I am dead to the
world ; for impassively and without shame I do this
thing." Then having left her in humility and broken
her pride, he departed.

There are many other marvellous acts which he did
in the direction of impassivity. He died in the sixtieth
year of his age, and was buried at Rome itself. 8

CHAPTER XXXVIII

EVAGRIUS 4

[i] IT is not right to be silent about the story of the
illustrious deacon Evagrius, a man who lived in apostolic

1 Cf. Gal. i. 10.

2 So far from this being an incredible demand, it was frequently
done by both sexes in the early days of the Quaker movement.

3 There is MS. authority, including the Syriac Vit. Sarap., for
"in the desert."

4 For Evagrius see Socr. IV. 23 ; Soz. VI. 30 ; Gennadius, tU vir.

EVAGRIUS 133

wise; rather one ought to put it into writing for the
edification of readers and the glory of the goodness
of our Saviour. I have thought it worth while to relate
(the story) from the beginning, how he came to his ideal,
and how having pursued asceticism worthily he died in
the desert at the age of fifty-four, according to the
words of Scripture : " In a little time he fulfilled many
years." *

[2] He came of a Pontic family and belonged to the
city of Ibora, 2 the son of a country-bishop. 3 He was
ordained reader by the holy Basil, the bishop of the
church of Csesarea. After the death of the holy Basil,
Gregory Nazianzen 4 the bishop, that very wise and most
impassive and highly cultured man, ordained him deacon.
Then at the great synod of Constantinople 5 he left him
to the blessed Nectarius the bishop, since he was skilled
in argument against all heresies. And he flourished in
the great city, speaking with youthful zeal against every
heresy. [3] Now it happened that this man, who was
held in high honour by the whole city, was congealed by

ittust. II ; Butler, I. 86 f., 101 , 131 f., II. 216 ; Zoclder,
Evagrius Ponticus ; Bardenhewer, Pafrologie (1910), 222 f. Of
his voluminous works only fragments remaia in Greek and Latin,
having been suppressed for their Origenistic tendency. For the
same reason the present chapter is omitted in some MSS. of
Palladium There is a considerable amount of material in Syriac
and Armenian for the future critical editor of Evagrius.

1 Wisd. iv. 13.

a Basil's Pontic monastery was in the diocese of Ibora ; Greg.
Nyss. In XL. Mart. (P. G. XLVJ. 784)-

3 The normal sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction was a city with its
dependent lands. In districts like Cappadocia, which had never
been thoroughly Hellenized, cities were rare and x 00 / 3671 "^* 071 " '
(country-bishops) were accordingly appointed for the sake of prac-
tical convenience. See Turner in Cambridge Medieval History,
L 146.

4 Not Gregory of Nyssa, as Palladius seemed to say, in contradic-
tion of Soz. VI, 30, before the true text was established.

6 A.D. 381.

134 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

an image of the desire of a woman, 1 as he himself told
us at a later time, when his soul was freed from such
thoughts. The woman loved him in return; now she
belonged to the highest rank. So Evagrius, fearing God
and respecting his own conscience, and putting before
his eyes the greatness of the shame and the malicious
joy 2 of the heresies, prayed to God in supplication that
he would put some obstacle in the way. Now the
woman was pressing and madly excited, while he, though
desiring to withdraw, had no power to, being constrained
by the chains of this servitude. [4] After no long
time, when his prayer had succeeded but he had not
experienced the benefit of it, there appeared to him an
angel vision in the shape of soldiers of the governor, and
they seized him and took him apparently to the tribunal
and threw him into the so-called custody, the men who
had come to him, as it seemed, without giving a reason
having first fastened his neck and hands with iron collars
and chains. But he knew in his conscience that for the
sake of the above fault he was suffering these things, and
imagined that her husband had intervened. [5] So
now he was extremely anxious. Another trial was going
on and others were being put to torture for some accusa-
tion, so he continued to be much perturbed. And the
angel who brought the vision transformed himself to
represent the coming of a genuine friend and said to
him, tied up as he was among forty prisoners chained
together: "Why are you retained here, my lord deacon?"
He said to him : " In truth I do not know, but I have a
suspicion that so-and-so the ex-governor has laid a charge
against me, impelled by an absurd jealousy. And I fear

TrepiirayiivaL yvvaiKiKys cTri.Oujji.las. The rendering given
hardly makes sense. Can irepnrayTJva.i mean "was beset," "fixed
all round"?
, a Ta firtxaipecriKaKOJ'. Exactly the German

EVAGRIUS 135

that the judge corrupted by bribes may inflict punish-
ment on me." [6] He said to him : "If you will listen
to your friend, it is not expedient for you to stay in this
city." Evagrius said to him : "If God will release me
from this misfortune and you see me in Constantinople
(any more), know that I shall suffer this punishment
justly." He said to him: "Let me bring the gospel,
and swear to me by it that you will leave this city and
care for your soul, and I will free you from this durance."
[7] So he brought the gospel and he swore to him by
the gospel : <l Except for one day, to give me time to put
my clothes on board, I certainly will not remain." So
when the oath had been produced, 1 he came back out of
the trance which had come on him in the night; and
he arose and argued with himself: "Even if the oath
was in a trance, nevertheless I did take it," So having
put all his belongings into the ship he went to Jerusalem.
[8] And there he was received by the blessed Me-
lania, the Roman lady. But once again the devil
hardened his heart, as he did Pharaoh's, and since he
was young and vigorous doubts beset him, and he hesi-
tated, saying nothing to any one, and changing his
clothes and his habit of speech back to his old ways, 2
vain-glory stupefying him. But God Who wards off
destruction from us all involved him in a bout of fever,
and after that in a long illness lasting six months, drying
up his flesh, the source of his trouble. [9] But when
the physicians were at a loss and could find no way of
cure, the blessed Melania said to him : " Son, your long
illness does not please me. Tell me therefore what are
your thoughts. For this illness of yours is not without
God." Then he confessed to her the whole matter.

1 J. e. the gospel on which the oath was made.

2 That is, from the clerical to the lay. But the text is difficult
and probably corrupt.

136 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

But she said to him : " Give me your word before the
Lord that you will keep to the mark of the monastic
life ; and, sinner though I am, I will pray that you may
be granted a furlough of life." 1 And he consented. So
within a few days he got well, and he arose and received
a change of clothes 2 at the hands of the lady herself
and went away and exiled himself in the mount of Nitria
which is in Egypt.

[10] Having lived there two years, in the third year
he entered the desert. So he lived fourteen years in the
place they call Cellia, and he used to eat a pound of
bread, and in three months a pint of oil, though he was
a man who had come from a luxurious and refined and
voluptuous life. And he made 100 prayers ; and he wrote
during the year only the value of what he ate for he
wrote the Oxyrhyncus characters 3 excellently. So in the
course of fifteen years having purified his mind to the
utmost he was counted worthy of the gift of knowledge
and wisdom and the discerning of spirits. So he com-
posed three holy books for monks, called Antirrhetica*
in which he taught the arts to be used against demons.
[14] The demon of fornication troubled him grievously,
as indeed he told us himself. And all night long he
stood naked in the well, though it was winter, so that his
flesh, was frozen. On another occasion again the spirit
of blasphemy troubled him. And for forty days he did
not enter under a roof, as he told us himself, so that his

1 Kofjt.laros' fays. So Turner, who quotes Ada S. Perpetuae :
an passio sit commeatus.

2 /. <?. clerical or monastic clothes.

3 Turner thinks that the MSS. discovered at Oxyrhyncus do not
betray any characteristic style ; so this must refer to some sort of
handwriting reserved for MSS. de luxe.

4 The Antirrhetica, or " Answers," were in eight books. Turner,
following the Coptic and later versions, considers the three books
referred to in the text to have been (a) the Priest, (6) the Monk,
(c) Answers, But see Butler, II. 218.

EVAGRIUS 137

body threw out ticks, like the bodies of irrational ani-
mals. Three demons attacked him by day disguised as
clerics, questioning him on the faith. And one said he
was an Arian, the other an Eunomian, the third an
Apollinarian j and he vanquished these in his wisdom
by means of a few words. [12] Again one day, the
key of the church having been lost, having made the
sign over the front of the lock and pushed with his
hand, he opened it, after first calling upon Christ. So
many castigations did he receive from demons and
so great trial of them did he have that there is no
counting the occasions. And to one of his disciples he
told the things that would happen to him after eighteen
years, having prophesied all to him in a vision (of the
future). And he said : " From the time that I took to
the desert, I have not touched lettuce nor any other
green vegetable, nor any fruit, nor grapes, nor meat, nor
a bath. [13] And later, in the sixfeenth year of his
life without cooked food, his flesh felt a need, owing to
the weakness of the stomach, to partake of (something
that had been) on the fire; he did not however take
bread even now,, but having fed on herbs or gruel or
pulse for two years, in this regime he died, after com-
municating in church at Epiphany. Shortly before his
death he told us : x " For three years I have not been
troubled by fleshly desire after so long a life and toil
and labour and ceaseless prayer." He was told of the
leath of his father, and said to his informant : " Cease
blaspheming, for my father is immortal." 2

1 Palladius was present at his death, at Cellia in 399 or 400.
There are variants, but vifiv is reasonably well attested.

2 This last sentence is quoted by Socrates (IV. 23) from Evagrius'
work, The Mowk,

138 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

CHAPTER XXXIX

PIOR 1

[i] PIOR, a young Egyptian, having renounced the
world, left his father's house and in an excess of zeal
gave his word to God that he would never see any of his
relations again. Fifty years after his sister, now an old
woman, having heard that he was alive seemed likely to
go out of her mind if she could not see him. But being
unahle to go to the great desert she besought the bishop
of the district to write to the fathers in the desert that
they should send him and she might see him. So, con-
siderable pressure having been brought to bear on him,
he decided to take one other with him and go. [2] And
he announced at his sister's house : " Your brother Pior
has come." So standing outside and perceiving from the
creaking of the door that the old woman came out to
meet him, he closed his eyes and called to her : " Ho !
What's-your-name, I am Pior your brother, I am he.
Look at me as much as you want." So she was con-
vinced and glorified God, and having failed to persuade
him to enter her house she returned to her dwelling.
But he having offered a prayer on the doorstep exiled
himself again in the desert.

[3] Now this miracle is told of him, that he dug in
the place where he lived and found some very bitter
water. And until he died he remained there, accepting
the bitterness of the water in order to show his endur-
ance. Many of the monks therefore after his death
tried to rival him by dwelling in his cell, but they could
not complete a year; for the place is terrible and
inconsolably dreary.

[4] Moses the Libyan, 2 a man of exceedingly gentle

1 Cf. X. 8, Soz. VI. 29. a See Butler, II. 197.

EPHRAIM 139

disposition and very affectionate, was counted worthy of
the gift of healings. He told me this: "When I was
a young man in the monastery we dug a very big pit,
twenty feet broad. In this eighty of us excavated for
three days and we got a cubit further than the vein
where we generally found water and expected it (in this
case), but found none. So very much disheartened
we were contemplating the abandonment of the work.
Then Pior appeared from the great desert at the sixth
hour, (the time) of burning heat, an old man clad in
a sheep-skin coat, and greeted us and said after the
greeting: "Why have you lost heart, men of little faith?
For I have seen you since yesterday losing heart."
[5] And having descended by a ladder to the cavity
of the well he said a prayer with them, and having taken
the pick he said after striking the third blow : " O God
of the holy patriarchs, 1 make not the toil of thy servants
useless, but send them the water they need." And im-
mediately water sprang out so that they were wetted
all over. So he prayed once more and went off. They
tried to make him eat, but he would not suffer them,
saying ; " That for which I was sent is accomplished ;
for this I was not sent/ 7

CHAPTER XL

EPHRAIM 2

[i] You must have heard particulars about Ephraim,
the deacon of the Church of Edessa; for he is one
of those who deserve to be remembered by religious
people. Having completed in worthy fashion the journey
of the Spirit, without being diverted from the straight

' l Who are frequently recorded in Genesis as digging wells.
2 See Soz. III. 16, and D.C.B.

140 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

road, he was counted worthy of the grace of natural
knowledge, and afterwards of the knowledge of God 1
and final blessedness. So having always practised the
quiet life and for many years continuing to edify his
visitors, at last he left his cell, for the following reason.
[2] A great famine having come upon the city of
Edessa, he felt compassion for the whole country-side,
which was being destroyed, and approached those who
were rich in material things, and said to them: "Why
do you not take pity on human nature being destroyed,
instead of letting your wealth be corrupted for the con-
demnation of your souls ? " They considered the matter
and said to him ; " We have no one whom we can trust
to minister to the famine-stricken. For all are dis-
honest in business affairs." He said to them: "What
do you think of me ? " Now he had a great reputation
among all, not falsely but truly. [3] They said to
him: "We know you to be a man of God." "Then
trust me," he said. "See, on your behalf I appoint
myself hospitaller." And he raised money, and par-
titioned the porticoes and made up some 300 beds, and
so nursed the sufferers from the famine, burying those
who succumbed and treating those who had hope of
life, and in a word out of the funds entrusted to him
provided day by day hospitality and assistance for all
the inhabitants. [4] So when the year was completed
and prosperity returned and all went home, no longer
having anything to do he entered his own cell and died
after a month, God having provided him this oppor-
tunity of gaining a crown just before his end. Also he
left some writings, most of which deserve to be studied.

HOLY WOMEN 141

CHAPTER XLI

HOLY WOMEN

[i] IT is necessary also to mention in my book
certain women with, manly qualities, to whom God ap-
portioned labours equal to those of men, lest any should
pretend that women are too feeble to practise virtue
perfectly. Now I have seen many such and met many
distinguished virgins and widows. 1 [[2] Among them
was the Roman lady Paula, 2 mother of Toxotius, a
woman of great distinction in the spiritual life. She
was hindered by a certain Jerome from Dalmatia. For
though she was able to surpass all, having great abilities,
he hindered her by his jealousy, having induced her to
serve his own plan. She has a daughter now living
an ascetic life at Bethlehem, Eustochium by name. I
have never met her, but she is said to be very chaste,
and she has a convent of fifty virgins.

[3] I knew also Veneria, wife of Vallovicus the count, 3
wiio gallantly distributed her camel's burden 4 and
was delivered from the wounds which property in-
flicts. And Theodora the wife of the tribune, who
reached such a depth of poverty that she became a
recipient of alms and finally died in the monastery of
Hesychas near the sea. I knew a lady named Hosia,
in every respect most venerable ; and her sister Adolia,

1 Passages enclosed in square brackets are translations of Butler's
Greek text, which is here a critical reconstruction.

2 Cf. XXXVT. 6.

5 Comes was a word of wide meaning. "Constantine . . . used
it as a honorific designation for officers of many kinds, who were
not necessarily in the immediate neighbourhood of an Augustus or
Caesar, but were servants of the Augustus or Augusti and Caesars
generally, that is to say might occupy any place in the whole
imperial administration." Reid in Camb. Med. Hist. Vol. I.
ch. 2.

* I. e. riches ; cf. Mt. xix. 24.

143 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

who lived in a way not indeed comparable to her, but
proportionately to her own capacity. [4] I knew also
Basianilla, the wife of Candidianus the general, who
practised virtue ardently and scrupulously, and is still
even now strenuously engaged in contests. Also the
virgin Photina, venerable in the extreme, daughter of
Theoctistus the priest near Laodicea. Again, I met in
Antioch a most venerable lady who conversed familiarly
with God, the deaconess Sabaniana, aunt of John the
bishop of Constantinople. And I saw also in Rome
the beautiful Asella, the virgin who had grown old in
the monastery, a very gentle lady and a supporter of
convents. [5] There also I saw men and women
recently instructed. I saw also Avita, 1 who was worthy
of God, with her husband Apronianus and their daughter
Eunomia, all so desirous to please God that they were
publicly converted to the life of virtue and continence,
and were held worthy on this account to fall asleep in
Christ freed from all sin, having become possessed of
knowledge and leaving their life in good remembrance.]

CHAPTER XLII

JULIAN 2

[I HAVE heard of a certain Julian in the region of
Edessa, a very ascetic man, who wore away his flesh till
it was so thin that he carried about only skin and bone.
At the very ,end of his life he was counted worthy of the
honour of the gift of healing.]

1 Cf. LIV. 4.

8 See Soz. III. 14. Ephraim Syrus 5 Life of Julian is extant in
Greek.

ADOLIUS 143

CHAPTER XLIII

ADOLIUS

[i] AGAIN, I knew a man at Jerusalem named Adolius,
a Tarsian by origin, who having come to Jerusalem
followed eagerly the untrodden road, not that on which
most of us walked, but carving out for himself a strange
mode of life. For his asceticism was superhuman, so
that the very demons, trembling at his austerity, dared
not approach him. For by reason of his excessive
abstinence and his vigils he was even suspected of being
a phantom. [2] For in Lent he would eat at intervals of
five days, and the whole rest of the time every other day.
But his greatest act of asceticism was this. From evening
until the time when the brotherhood began to assemble
again in their houses of prayer he would continue on
his feet singing psalms and praying, on the Mount of
Olives, the hill of the Ascension whence Jesus was taken
up; and whether it snowed or rained or there was a
white frost he remained undaunted. [3] So having
completed his accustomed time he knocked at the cells
of all the monks with his little waking-up knocker,
collecting them into the houses of prayer and in each
house singing one or two psalms with them antiphonally
and praying with them. Then he went away to his own
cell before daybreak, so that of a truth the brethren often
had to undress him and wring out his clothes as if after
the wash, and put other clothes on him. So then, after
resting until the hour of psalmody, 1 he applied himself
(to worship) until evening. And so this was the virtue
of Adolius the Tarsian, who reached perfection in
Jerusalem and died there.

1 7, e>> as in the Syriac, "until the third hour,"

144 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

CHAPTER XLIV

INNOCENT x

[i] You have heard from many the story of the
blessed Innocent, the priest of the Mount of Olives, but
none the less you will hear it also from us who lived with
him for three years. He was simple to an excess. Having
been one of the dignitaries of the palace in the early days
of the Emperor Constantius, he renounced the world,
leaving his marriage, by which he had also a son, Paul
by name, of the imperial bodyguard. [2] When the
latter had sinned with the daughter of a priest, Innocent
cursed his own son, beseeching God and saying : " Lord,
give him such a spirit that his flesh may no longer find
opportunity to sin " thinking it better that he should
struggle with a demon than with incontinence, which
actually happened. At this present moment he is still
on the Mount of Olives, wearing irons and chastised by
the spirit. [3] How compassionate indeed this Innocent
was, so that often he himself stole from the brethren and
gave to the needy I shall seem to be talking nonsense
if I tell the truth. And he was exceedingly innocent and
simple, and was counted worthy of the gift (of power)
over demons. As an example of this : Once a young
man was brought to him before our eyes taken by a
spirit and by paralysis, so that I, having seen him,
wished publicly to repel the mother of the man who had
been brought, since I despaired of his cure. [4] Well,
it happened in the meantime that the old man having
come up saw her standing and weeping and lamenting

1 Probably to be identified with Pope Innocent I. He is
mentioned in Basil, Epp. 258, 259, and Athanasius' letter to
Palladius (P. G. XXVI. 1167). But the Palladius mentioned by
Athanasius and Basil is not the author of the Lmtsiac History.
(Butler, II. 219!)

PHILOROMUS i4S

over the unspeakable misfortune of her son, So the
good old man wept and, moved with compassion, took
the young man and entered into his oratory, which he
had built with his own hands, and in which relics of
John the Baptist were laid. And having prayed over
him from the third hour to the ninth, he restored the
young man to his mother cured that same day, having
driven out both his paralysis and the demon. His
paralysis was such that the boy, when he spat, spat on
his own back, so twisted was he.

[5] An old woman having lost a sheep came to him
in tears. And having followed her he said : "Show me
'the place where you lost it.' 7 She led him to the neigh-
bourhood of the tomb of Lazarus. 1 He stood and
prayed. But the young men who had stolen it antici-
pated him by killing it. So while he prayed, no one
confessing and the meat lying hidden in the vineyard, a
crow came from somewhere and hovered over the place,
took a morsel and flew off again. And the blessed one
having marked the place found the slain animal, and so
the young men who had killed it fell at his feet and con-
fessed and paid, when asked, the proper price of the
sheep.

CHAPTER XLV

PHILOROMUS

2 [[i] WE met in Galatia the priest Philoromus, a most
ascetic and enduring man, and stayed with him a long
time. His mother was a maidservant, his father a free
man. But he showed such nobility in the Christlike mode
of life that even those whose family record was unsurpass-
able revered his life and virtue. He renounced the world

1 I. e. Bethany, as in the Pilgrimage of Ethtria,
a See XLI. 2.

i 4 6 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

in the days of Julian the infamous Emperor, and spoke to
him with boldness. Julian ordered him to be shaved
and buffeted by boys. He endured the ordeal patiently
and expressed his thanks to Julian, as he told us himself.
[2] In his early days war against fornication and gluttony
was his lot. He drove out these passions by shutting
himself up and wearing irons, and by abstinence from
corn-bread and all things cooked by fire. After per-
severing in this course for eighteen years he sang the
hymn of triumph to Christ. Attacked in divers ways by
the spirits of wickedness, he abode in one monastery for
forty years. He told us this: "For thirty-two years I
touched no fruit" Once when timidity attacked him, in
order to get rid of it, he shut himself up in a tomb for
six years. [3] The blessed Basil, the bishop, took great
care of him, rejoicing in his austerity and firmness.
Even now he has not renounced the pen and the writing
sheet, 1 though perhaps in his eightieth year. He said :
"From the time that I .was initiated and born again
until to-day, I have never eaten another's bread for
nothing, but always as the result of my own labours/'
(Speaking) as in the presence of God, he convinced us
that he had given to the cripples 250 pieces of money
earned by the work of his hands, and had never wronged
anyone. [4] He went on foot even as far as Rome
itself to pray at the martyr-chapel of the blessed Peter.
He went also as far as Alexandria, to pray at the martyr-
chapel of Mark. Then he came also a second time to
Jerusalem, having gone on his own feet and defrayed his
own expenses. And he said this : " I do not remember
that I was ever absent in mind" from my God."]

ypd<piy.

MELANIA THE ELDER 14?

CHAPTER XLVI

MELANIA THE ELDER *

[i] THE thrice-blessed Melania was a Spaniard by
origin, but afterwards belonged to Rome, She was the
daughter 2 of Marcellinus the ex-consul, and wife of
a certain man of high official rank, whom I do not
quite remember. Having become a widow at twenty-
two, she was favoured with the divine love, and having
said nothing to any one for she would have been pre-
ventedin the time when Valens had the rule in the
empire, she had a guardian nominated for her son and
took all her movable property and put it on a ship ; then
she sailed with all speed to Alexandria, accompanied by
various highborn women and children. [2] After that,
having sold her goods and turned them into money, she
went to the mountain of Nitria, where she met the fol-
lowing fathers and their companions Pambo, Arsisius,
Sarapion the Great, Paphnutius of Scete, Isidore the
Confessor, bishop of Hermopolis, and Dioscorus. And
she sojourned with them for half a year, travelling about
in the desert and visiting all the saints. [3] But after
this, when the prefect 3 of Alexandria banished Isidore,
Pisimius, Adelphius, Paphnutius and Pambo, with them
also Ammonius Parotes, and twelve bishops and priests,
to Palestine in the neighbourhood of Diocsesarea, she
followed them and ministered to them from her own
money. But, servants being forbidden them, so they
told me for I met the holy Pisimius and Isidore and

1 See also LIV. Besides Palladius, Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 29,
is our chief informant about Melania.

a But see Rufinus, ApoL II. 26 : " She was the granddaughter of
the consul Marcellinus." See also Paulinus.

3 avyovcrraXtov, the pr&fectus Augustalis.

148 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Paphnutius and Ammonius wearing the dress 1 of a
young slave she brought them In the evenings what they re-
quired. But the consular of Palestine got to know -of it,
and wishing to fill his pocket thought he would terrify 2 her.
[4] And having arrested her he threw her into prison,
ignorant that she was a lady. But she told him : "For
my part, I am So-and-So's daughter and So-and-So's wife,
but I am Christ's slave, And do not despise the cheap-
ness of my clothing. For I am able to exalt myself if I
like, and you cannot terrify me in this way or take any of
my goods. So then I have told you this, lest through
ignorance you should incur judicial accusations. For
one must in dealing with insensate folk be as audacious
as a hawk/ 7 3 Then the judge, recognizing the situation,
both made an apology and honoured her, and gave
orders that she should succour the saints without
hindrance.

[5] After they were recalled she founded a monastery in
Jerusalem, and spent twenty-seven years there in charge of
a convent of fifty virgins. With her lived also the most
noble Rufinus, from Italy, of the city of Aquileia, a man
similar to her in character and very stedfast, who was
afterwards judged worthy of the priesthood. A more
learned man or a kinder than he was not to be found
among men. 4 [6] So these two during twenty-seven
years receiving at their own charges those who visited
Jerusalem in pursuance of a vow, bishops and monks
and virgins, edified all who visited them, and they
reconciled the schism of Paulinus, 5 some 400 monks

1 Kapa,K<i\\iov } Latin caracalla-, a long tunic or great- coat made
with a hood (Lewis and Short).

2 Kairvifav. (Butler marks this word as corrupt or of uncertain
meaning.)

3 xaOdirep tepct/a r< ttifycp /cexpTjtrflcu.

4 Palladius takes Rufmus' part unhesitatingly in the famous
quarrel between him and Jerome.

6 The long-continued Antiochian schism ; unless the theory of

CHRONIUS AND PAPHNUTIUS 149

in all, and winning over every heretic that denied the
Holy Spirit they brought him to the Church ; and
they honoured the clergy of the district with gifts and
food, and so continued to the end, without offending
anyone.

CHAPTER XLVII

CHRONIUS AND PAPHNUTIUS

[i] A CERTAIN man named Chronius 1 of the village
called Phcenice, having measured off from his own village,
which was near the desert, 15000 steps counted with his
right foot, dug a well there after prayer; and having
found very good water forty-two feet away, built himself
there a little dwelling. And from the day that he
installed himself in this abode he prayed to God that he
might never return to an inhabited place. [2] But
when a few years had passed he was counted worthy of
the priesthood, a brotherhood of some 200 men having
collected round him. Now this meritorious feature of
his asceticism is told, that having officiated at the altar
for sixty years, exercising his priesthood, he did not
leave the desert and never ate bread that came from any
source but the work of his own hands.

With him dwelt one Jacob, who belonged to the
neighbourhood, surnamed the Lame, an exceedingly
learned man. Now both were known to the blessed
Antony. [3] Now one day they were joined by Paph-
nutius, 2 surnamed Kephalas, who had the gift of know-
ledge of the divine Scriptures of the Old and New

Tillemont is right, according to which Paulinns should be Paulini-
anus, Jerome's brother, who was forcibly ordained by Epiphanius
in 394 in defiance of the diocesan, John of Jerusalem.

1 It is uncertain whether this Chronius is to be identified with
the Chronius of VII. and XXI.

2 See Butler, II, 224 f, for the various monks of this name,

150 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Testaments, interpreting it all without having read the
Scriptures, but he was so modest ,that his prophetic
virtue was concealed. It is told of him that during
eighty years he never wore two tunics together. The
blessed Evagrius and Albanius and I when we met these
men sought to know the causes of brothers falling away
or backsliding or stumbling in the proper life. [4] For
it happened in those days that Chaeremon the ascetic
died in a sitting posture and was found dead on his
chair holding his work in his hands. And it happened
also that another brother while digging a well was
swallowed up by the well ; and another on his way
down from Scete died from lack of water. Then again
there was the story of Stephen, who fell into disgraceful
profligacy, and of Eucarpius, and the story of Heron of
Alexandria, and the story of Valens of Palestine, and
the story of Ptolemy the Egyptian who lived in Scete.
[5] We asked therefore what was the reason why the
men who lived there in the desert were some of them
deceived in their mind and others shattered by lust. So
this was the answer that the most enlightened Paphnutius
gave us, namely : " All things that happen are divided
into two, what God approves and what He allows. As
many things then as happen in accordance with virtue
for the glory of God, these happen with His approval.
But as many, on the contrary, as are fraught with loss
and danger and are due to external crises or fallings
away, these happen with God's permission, [6] But the
permission is given in a rational manner. For it is im-
possible that a man who thinks rightly and lives rightly
should succumb to snares of shame or the deceit of
demons. Consequently, all who seem to pursue virtue
with a corrupt purpose, the vice of men-pleasing or per-
verse imagination, these also make false steps, for God
deserts them for their benefit, in order that through

CHRONIUS AND PAPHNUTIUS 151

their desertion they may perceive the difference that
results from their change and correct either their
intention or their conduct. [7] For at one time the
will sins, when it acts with evil intent, at another time
also the conduct, when it acts corruptly or in the wrong
fashion. And this indeed often happens, that the vicious
man with a corrupt purpose gives alms to girls in pur-
suance of an evil end, though he does an apparently
good action by giving help to her who is an orphan,
a solitary, or an ascetic. But it happens also that men
give alms with a right purpose to the sick or aged or
those who have lost money, but sparingly and with a
grumble, and the intention is right but the action is
unworthy of the intention ; for it is necessary that the
merciful man show mercy gladly and generously." 1
[8] They said also this: "There are good qualities in
many souls, in some a natural goodness of thought, in
others aptitude for asceticism. But whenever some
action is not done or natural goodness not manifested for
the sake of the actual good, and those who possess good
qualities do not ascribe them to God the Giver of all
good things, but to their own free will, natural goodness
and capacity, then such men are deserted and are
involved either in disgraceful conduct or experience and
in shame, and by means of the consequent humiliation
and shame gradually lose the pride felt in their pretended
virtue. [9] For when the man who is puffed up with
pride, pluming himself on the natural charm of his
discourse, does not ascribe to God the natural charm or
even the supply of knowledge, but to his own application
or natural gifts, God withdraws from him the angel of'
foreknowledge. When this angel is removed, then over-
powered by the adversary the man who plumes himself
on his natural charm falls into licentiousness through his
1 Rom. xii. 8.

i S 2 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

presumption, in order that, the witness of his self-control
being withdrawn, the words spoken by such men may
be no longer worthy of credit ; while religious men shun
the teaching which proceeds from such a mouth as if it
were a fountain containing leeches, so that the Scripture
is fulfilled : f But to the sinner said God, Why dost thou
recount my judgments and takest my covenant in thy
mouth? 31 [10] For truly the souls of the vicious are
like diverse fountains. The gluttonous and wine-lovers
are like muddy fountains ; the covetous and greedy like
fountains with frogs ; others 5 envious and haughty but
with an aptitude for knowledge, are like fountains which
cherish serpents, in which reason is always floating but
no one likes to draw from them because of the bitterness
of their character. This is why David demanded three
things in his prayer, goodness and discipline and
knowledge/ 2 For without goodness knowledge is not
good, [u] And if such a man corrects himself, putting
away the cause of his abandonment, that is, pride, and
recovers humility and recognizes his own measure, not
exalting himself against anyone, and thanking God,
then knowledge attested by proof returns to him. For
spiritual words which do not have as an escort a sober
and disciplined life are like ears of corn blasted by the
wind ; they have the outward appearance (of corn) but
have been robbed of their nutritive value. [12] There-
fore every fall, whether by the tongue, or by perception,
or by action, or by the whole body, tends to produce
abandonment in proportion to the presumption, though
God spares those who are abandoned. For if, in the
midst of their vice, the Lord will bear witness to their
natural grace by providing them with eloquence, arrogance
turns them into demons, puffed up with uncleanness."
[13] And those men told us this too: "When you
* PS. xlix. (1.) 16, > Ps. cxviii. (cxix.) 66 (LXX),

CHRONIUS AND PAPHNUTIUS 153

see a man irregular in his life but plausible in speech,
remember the demon who conversed with Christ using
the words of Scripture, and the witness which says:
' Now the serpent was the most subtle of all the beasts on
the earth.' 1 In his case intelligence has the rather
resulted in harm, since no other virtue accompanied it.
For the faithful and good man must think the thoughts
which God gives and say what he thinks and do what he
says, [14] For if the relationships of a man's life do not
accord with the truth of his words, he is, as Job says,
like bread without salt which will in no case be eaten, or,
if eaten, will make those who eat it ill. Shall bread be
eaten without salt? 7 he says. c And is there any taste
in vain words/ 2 which are not fulfilled by the witness of
the works ? Now these are the causes of the abandon-
ings : in one case because of hidden virtue, that it may
be revealed, as was Job's, God speaking to him and
saying : * Reject not My judgment, nor think that I have
spoken to thee for any other reason than that thou
mightest be shown to be righteous. 3 [15] For thou
wast known to Me who see secret things ; but when
thou wast unknown to men, people supposing that thou
wast serving Me because of wealth, I brought on the
disaster, I cut off the wealth, that I might show them
thy philosophy of gratitude/ In other cases it is to
avert pride as with Paul. For Paul was abandoned,
being tossed about in misfortunes and bufferings and
divers afflictions, and he said : ' There was given me a
thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted,' 4 [16] Lest perhaps in the midst of
his marvellous works both the repose and the prosperity
and the honour which accrued to him might cast him
gaping with vanity into diabolical pride. The paralytic

1 Gen. iii. i. * Job vi. 6.

8 Job. xl. 3, 4 1 Cor, xii. 7,

154 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

was abandoned because of sins, as Jesus says: 'See,
thou are made whole, sin no more/ 1 Judas was
abandoned, because he loved money more than the
word, wherefore also he hanged himself. Esau also was
abandoned and fell into dissolute conduct, preferring the
grossness 2 of entrails to his father's blessing. [17] So
that considering all these things Paul said concerning
some : ' As they refused to have God in their knowledge,
God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do things
which are not fitting. 7 3 And concerning certain others
who seem to have the knowledge of God with a corrupt
mind : * Since knowing God, they glorified Him not as
God, neither gave Him thanks, for this cause God
gave them up unto vile passions/ 4 So that from these
instances we know that it is impossible that any should
fall into dissolute conduct unless he has first been
abandoned by God's Providence."

CHAPTER XLVIII

ELPIDIUS

[i] IN the caves of the Amorites round about
Jericho, which they excavated long ago when they fled
from Joshua the son of Nun, 5 who was -ravaging then
the aliens on the mountain of Doukas, 6 there lived a
certain Elpidius, a Cappadocian, afterwards counted
worthy of the priesthood. Having been a member of
the monastery of Timothy, 7 the Cappadocian country-

1 Jn. v. 14. 2 Koirpov.

3 Rom. I. 28. 4 Rom. i. 21, 26.

5 Lucot aptly quotes the inscription 'of the Canaanite refugees in
Africa, recorded by Procopius : "We are they who fled before
Joshua the robber, the son of Nun/'

* Cf. I Mace. xvi. 15. Simon and his sons go down to Jericho
and are received " into the little stronghold that is called Dok."

7 To be identified with the chorepiscopus. of Bas., Epp. 24
and 291,

ELPIDIUS 155

bishop, a very able man, he came and settled in one of
the caves. He showed such self-discipline in his asceti-
cism as to put all others in the shade. [2] For during
his twenty-five years 7 life there he used to take food only
on Sunday and Saturday and would spend the nights
standing up and singing psalms. With him, (reigning)
like a little king in the midst of his bees, 1 lived the
multitude 2 of the brethren, and I too lived with him,
and thus he made the mountain a veritable city. And
one could see there different modes of life. Once a
scorpion stung this Elpidius as he sang psalms by night
and we too were singing with him. He trod it underfoot,
nor did he even move from his standing position, despis-
ing the pain caused by the scorpion. [3] One day, as
a brother was holding a vine-cutting, he took it as he sat
at the declivity of the mountain and dug a hole for it as
if planting it, though it was not the season. It grew big
and became a vine large enough to give shade to the
church. In his company also a certain Aenesius reached
perfection, a worthy man, and so did Eustathius his
brother. To such a height of impassivity did he attain
in drying up his body that the sun shone through his
bones. [4] The story is told by his zealous disciples
that he never turned (to gaze) towards the west because
the mountain with its height dominated the door of the
cave. Nor did he ever see the sun after the sixth hour,
having passed overhead and now descending towards the
west, or even the stars that rise in the west, for twenty-
five years. From the time he entered the cave he did
not descend from the mountain until he was buried.

1 Of. Basil's sermon De ludicio Dei, 214, in which he con-
trasts the Church distracted by its divisions with a swarm of bees he
once saw "following their own king in good order. 3 ' The Greeks
generally mistook the sex of the queen bee, though, as Sir W. M.
Ramsay points out (Hastings, D. B. V. 116 ), the bee which
symbolizes the goddess of the Ephesian cult is clearly feminine.

8 Reading rb irtifjOos, which is necessitated by the sense,

156 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

CHAPTER XLIX

SISINNIUS

[ [i] THIS Elpidius had a disciple, by name Sisinnius,
of servile origin, but a free man as regards the faith, a
Cappadocian by race. For one must point out these
things for the glory of Christ, Who ennobles us and leads
us to the true nobility. After dwelling with Elpidius six
or seven years finally he shut himself up in a tomb and
continued for three years in a tomb, praying constantly,
sitting down neither by night nor day, neither lying down
nor walking out. He was counted worthy of a gift (of
power) over demons. [2] But having returned to his
native country he was counted worthy of the priesthood,
and collected a community of men and women. By his
grave manner of life he drove out whatever masculine
lusts there were in himself, and by self-discipline . he
curbed the feminine element in the women, so that the
words of Scripture were fulfilled : " In Christ Jesus there
is neither male nor female." x Then also he is hospitable,
although without possessions, so as to shame the rich men
who are not generous.]

CHAPTER L

GADDANAS a

I KNEW an old Palestinian named Gaddanas, who lived
in the open air in the region round the Jordan, Some
Jews once set about him in a fanatic outburst, in the
region round the Dead Sea, and came against him with
sword drawn. And this incident occurred. When a
man lifted up his sword and wished to use it against
Gaddanas, the hand of him who had drawn it was

* Gal, iii. 28. * Cf t Soz. VI. 34.

ELIAS 157

withered up, and the sword fell from the hand of its
wield er.

CHAPTER LI

ELIAS

THEN again Elias, a monk, dwelt in the same parts in
a cave, living a life most grave and disciplined. One
day when a number of brethren had come to him, for
the place was on the main road, he ran short of bread.
And he assured us : " Dismayed at what had happened,
I went into the cell and found three loaves. And the
visitors having eaten of them to satiety they were
twenty in all one was left over, which lasted me
twenty-five days."

CHAPTER LII

SABAS

1 [A MAN named Sabas, a layman, 2 a native of Jericho,
became so enamoured of the monks that he went the
round of the cells and the desert at nights and at each
habitation put outside a bushel of dates, and a sufficiency
of vegetables, because the ascetics of the Jordan do not
eat bread. One day a lion met him and, taking him by
surprise, chased Kim for a mile and then turned back,
took his ass and went off.]

CHAPTER LIU

ABRAMIUS

THERE was a certain Abramius, an Egyptian by race,
who lived a very rough and savage life in the wilderness.
Afflicted in his mind by an untimely fancy, he went to
the church and contended with the priests, saying : " I

1 Cf. XLI. * KOfffUKts.

i 5 8 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

have been ordained a priest by Christ this night, accept
me as a celebrant." The fathers removed him from the
desert and led him to a less ascetic and calmer life, and
cured him of his presumption, bringing this man who
had been deluded by the demon to a knowledge of his
own weakness.

CHAPTER LIV

THE ELDER MELANZA

[r] THOUGH I have told above a in a superficial way
of the wonderful and saintly Melania, nevertheless I will
now weave into my narrative at this point what remains
to be said. What stores of goods she used up in her
divine zeal, as it were burning them in a fire, is not for
me to dwell on, but for those who dwell in Persia. For no
one escaped her benevolence, neither East nor West nor
North nor South. [2] For thirty-seven years she had been
giving hospitality, and at her own costs had succoured both
churches and monasteries and strangers and prisoners,
her family and her son himself and her stewards pro-
viding the money. She persevered so long in the practice
of hospitality that she possessed not even a span of land.
She was not drawn (from her purpose) by desire for
her son, nor did yearning after her only son 2 separate
her from love towards Christ. [3] But thanks to her
prayers the young man attained a high standard of edu-
ation and a good character and an illustrious marriage,
and participated in the honours of the world; he had
also two children. A long while after, hearing how her
granddaughter was situated, that she was married and was
proposing to renounce the world, afraid lest they should be
injured by bad teaching or heresy or evil living, though an

1 Ch. XLVI.

a In point of fact Melania had two other sons.

THE ELDER .MELANIA 159

old woman of sixty years, she flung herself into a ship and
sailing from Csesarea reached Rome in twenty days. 1 [4]
And having met there that most blessed and worthy man
Apronianus, a pagan, she instructed him and made him
a Christian, persuading him to be continent as regards
his wife, Melania's niece named Avita. And having also
strengthened the will of her own granddaughter Melania,
with her husband Pinianus, and instructed her daughter-
in-law Albina, wife of her son, and having induced all
these to sell their goods, she led them out from Rome
and brought them into the holy and calm harbour of the
(religious) life. And in so doing she fought with beasts 2
in the shape of all the senators and their wives who tried
to prevent her, in view of (similar) renunciation of the
world on the part of the other (senatorial) houses. But
she said to them : " Little children, it was written 400
years ago, It is the last hour. 3 Why do you love
to linger in life's vanities ? Perchance the days of anti-
christ will surprise you, and you will cease to enjoy
your wealth and your ancestral property." [6] And
having liberated all these she led them to the monastic
life. And after instructing the younger son of Publicola
she brought him to Sicily, and having sold all her re-
maining goods and received their value, she came to
Jerusalem. Then, having got rid of her possessions,
within forty days she fell asleep in a good old age and
profound meekness, leaving behind both a monastery in
Jerusalem and an endowment for it.

[7] But when all these persons had left Rome there
fell on Rome a hurricane of barbarians, which was
ordained long ago in prophecies, and it did not spare
even the bronze statues in 1 the Forum, but sacking them

1 Butler dates this return to Rome in 398. Melania landed at
Naples and went first to see Paulimis at Nola (Paulinus, Ep. 29).

2 I Cor. xv. 32 ; Ign. Rom. 5. 8 I St. John ii. 18.

160 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

all with barbaric frenzy delivered them to destruction, so
that Rome, which had been beautified by loving hands l
for 1200 years, became a ruin. 2 Then those who had
been instructed (by Melania) and those who had opposed
her instruction glorified God, Who had persuaded the
unbelievers by a reversal of fortune, in that, when all the
other families had been made prisoners, these ones only
were preserved, having been made by Melania's zeal
burnt-offerings to the Lord.

CHAPTER LV

SILVANIA (MELANIA conti/iusd) 3

[i] IT so happened that we 4 travelled together from
Aelia 5 to Egypt, escorting the blessed Silvania the
virgin, sister-in-law of Rufinus the ex-prefect. Among
the party there was Jovinus also with us, then a deacon,
but now bishop of the church of Ascalon, a devout and
learned man. We came into an intense heat and, when
we reached Pelusium, it chanced that Jovinus took a
basin and gave his hands and feet a thorough 6 wash in
ice-cold water, and after washing flung a rug on the

* (piXoKaXfjOelffav.

2 The sack of Rome by Alaric in 410. Cf. Gibbon, Ch. XXXI.
f 4 The edifices of Rome, though the damage has been much exagger-
ated, received some injury from the violence of the Goths. . . .
Some truth may possibly be concealed in his (i. s. Orosius') devout
assertion, that the wrath of Heaven supplied the imperfections of
hostile rage, and that the proud Forum of Rome, decorated with
the statues of so many gods and heroes, was levelled in the dust by
the stroke of lightning. 3 ' Palladius' evidence is contemporary and
deserves respect.

3 Turner points out that this is a continuation of Ch. LTV ;
Butler agrees.

4 /. s. Palladius and Melania.

5 Jerusalem was called Aelia Capitolina by Hadrian in 136 A.D,
after the suppression of the Jewish rebellion.

6 7ruy/ij?. Cf. Mk. vii, 3. *' Probably the only allusion in patristic
literature*" (Turner).

OLYMPIAS 161

ground and lay down to rest [2] She came to him
like a wise mother of a true son and began to scoff at
his softness, saying: "How dare you at your age, when
your blood is still vigorous, thus coddle your flesh, not
perceiving the mischief that is engendered by it? Be
sure of this, be sure of it, that I am in the sixtieth year
of my life and except for the tips of my fingers neither
my feet nor my face nor any one of my limbs have
touched water, although I am a victim to various ail-
ments and the doctors try to force me. I have not
consented to make the customary concessions to the
flesh, never in my travels have I rested on a bed or used
a litter."

[3] Being very learned and loving literature she
turned night into day by perusing every writing of the
ancient commentators, including 3,000,000 (lines) of
Origen 1 and 2,500,000 (lines) of Gregory, Stephen,
Pierius, Basil, and other standard writers. Nor did she
read them once only and casually, but she laboriously
went through each book seven or eight times. Where-
fore also she was enabled to be freed from knowledge
falsely so called 2 and to fly on wings, thanks to the
grace of these books; elevated by kindly hopes she
made herself a spiritual bird and journeyed to Christ.

CHAPTER LVI

OLYMPIAS

[i] THAT most venerable and devoted lady Olympias
followed the counsel of Melania, attending to her pre-
cepts and walking in her footsteps. She was the
daughter of Seleucus the ex-count, grand-daughter of

1 Omitted by leading authorities for the text, as in the other
places where he is mentioned by Palladius.
a i Tim. vi. 20.

L

i6 2 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Ablavius the ex-prefect, and bride for a few days of
Nebridius, the ex-prefect of the city, but the wife of no
man. For she is said to have died a virgin, but the
spouse of the Word of Truth. [2] She dispersed all
her goods and gave to the poor, She engaged in no
mean combats for truth's sake, instructed many women,
addressed priests reverently, and honoured bishops ;
she was accounted worthy to be a confessor for truth's
sake. The inhabitants of Constantinople reckon her
life among the confessors, for she died thus and went
away to the Lord in the midst of her struggles for God's
honour.

CHAPTER LVII

CANDIDA

[i] ATTENDING to her precepts and imitating her
like a mirror, the blessed Candida, daughter of Trajan
the general, lived a worthy life and attained to the
height of sanctity, paying honours both to churches
and bishops. Having instructed her own daughter for
the condition of virginity she brought her to Christ as
a gift of her own body, afterwards following her own
daughter in temperance and chastity and the distribu-
tion of her goods. [2] I knew her labour all night
long with her hands at the mill to subdue her body;
and she used to say ; " Fasting is insufficient ; I give it
an ally in the shape of toilsome watching, that I may
destroy the insolence of Esau." 1 She abstained abso-
lutely from anything with blood 2 and life in it, but
taking fish and vegetables with oil on feast days, at
other times she continued to content herself with a
mixture of sour wine and dry bread.

1 Cf, Heb. xii. 16.

a Is this one of the rare traces in the later Church of the influence
of the compromise of Acts xv. 20 ?

THE MONKS OF ANTINOE 163

[3] In emulation of her example the most venerable
lady Gelasia, a tribune's daughter, walked in the path
of religion, having put on the yoke of virginity. Her
virtue is renowned in that the sun never went down *
on her irritation against man-servant or maid-servant or
any one else.

CHAPTER LVIII

THE MONKS OF ANTINOE

[i] HAVING spent four years 2 at Antinoe in the
Thebaid, in so long a time I acquired knowledge also
of the local monasteries. For some 1200 men are
settled round the city, who live by their hands and
are extremely ascetic. Reckoned among these there
are also anchorites who have shut themselves up in the
caves of the rocks. One of these is a certain Solomon,
a man of very mild disposition and restrained and
possessing the gift of endurance. He used to say that
he had been fifty years in the cave. He provided for
himself by the work of his hands and .had learned by
heart all the holy Scriptures.

[2] In another cave lived Dorotheus, a priest. He
was extraordinarily good, and having himself lived an
irreproachable life was counted worthy of the priest-
hood, and ministered to the brethren in the caves. To
him Melania the younger, grand-daughter of the great
Melania, concerning whom I shall speak later, 3 once
sent 500 pieces of money, beseeching him to spend
them on the brethren there. But he took three only
and sent the rest to Diocles the anchorite, a most
learned man, saying : " Brother Diocles is wiser than I,
and can administer them without doing harm, knowing

1 Eph. iv. 26. 2 From 406 onwards,

8 Ch. LXI.

164 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

those who should rightly be helped. For myself, I am
content with these*"

[3] This Diodes began in the first instance with the
grammar course, but afterwards gave himself to philo-
sophy. However, in course of time grace drew him on,
and in the twenty-eighth year of his life he gave up the
cycle of studies l and gave himself up 2 to Christ ; and he
had spent thirty-five years in the caves. 3 He told us
this : "Intelligence which is separated from the thought
of God becomes either a demon or a brute beast." But
since we were curious to know his manner of speaking
he explained thus : " Intelligence separated from the
thought of God inevitably falls into concupiscence or
anger/' And he said concupiscence was beast-like and
anger demoniacal. [4] But when I objected : " How can
human intelligence be continually with God ? " this same
man said : " Whenever the soul is engaged in a thought
or action that is, pious and godly, then it is with God."

There lived near him a certain Capiton, who had been
a robber. He had completed fifty years in the caves
four miles from the city of Antinoe, and did not come
down from his cave, not even as far as the river Nile,
saying that he was not yet able to meet crowds because
the Adversary at that instant would oppose him.

[5] With these we saw also another anchorite, himself
also (living) in a cave in similar fashion. Being mocked
in dreams by the frenzy of vainglory, he mocked in his
turn those that deceived themselves, "feeding the
winds." 4 And he possessed bodily continence thanks to
his age and his long time (in the desert), and perhaps

1 Cf. XXI, 3. 2 -jrTciaT

3 From here to the end of section [3] the Greek given in the
textual note to Butler's text is translated, in accordance with
Butler's later judgment.

4 Prov. ix, 12 (LXX).

AMMA TALIS AND TAOR 165

also thanks to his vainglory. 1 On the other hand, his
judgment was perverted owing to the unrestrained
character of his vainglory.

CHAPTER LIX

AMMA TALIS AND TAOR

[i] IN this city of Antinoe there are twelve convents
of women ; in one of them I met Amma 2 Talis, an old
woman who had spent eighty years in asceticism, as she
and the neighbours told me. With her dwelt sixty
young women who loved her so greatly that no key even
was fixed on the outer wall of the monastery, as in other
monasteries, but they were kept in by love of her.
Such a height of impassivity did the old woman reach
that when I entered and sat down she came and sat by
me and put her hands on my shoulders in a transport
of freedom.

[2] In this monastery there was a disciple of hers by
name Taor, a virgin who had been thirty years in the,
monastery ; she would never accept a new habit or hood
or shoes, saying : " I do not need them, lest I be forced
also to go out." For all the others go out on Sunday to
church for the Communion; but she remains in the
house clothed in rags, ceaselessly sitting at her work.
But her looks were naturally so charming that even the

1 Cf. Cassian, Coll. V. 12, " But in one matter vainglory is
found to be a useful thing for beginners. I mean by those who are
still troubled by carnal sins, as for instance, if, when they are
troubled by the spirit of fornication, they formed an idea of the
dignity of the priesthood, or of reputation among all men, by
which they may be thought saints and immaculate ; and so with
these considerations they repel the unclean suggestions of lust, as
deeming them base and at least unworthy of their rank and reputa-
tion \ and so by means of a smaller evil they overcome a greater
one."

3 /. e. " Mother."

166 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

most stedfast would almost have been deceived by her
beauty, if she had not had her chastity as an exceedingly
strong sentinel, and by her modesty had been compelling
the unrestrained eye to reverence and fear.

CHAPTER LX

COLLYTHUS

[i] ANOTHER virgin was a neighbour of mine, but I
did not see her face, for she never came out, so they say,
from the day she renounced the world. But, having
completed sixty years of asceticism in company with her
own mother (-superior), at last she was about to depart
from this life. And the martyr of the place stood over
her Collythus was his name and said to her : " To-
day you are going to travel to the Master and see all the
saints. Come then and breakfast with us in the chapel." *
So she got up at twilight and dressed and took in her
basket bread and olives and shredded herbs, after all
those years going out, and she went to the chapel and
prayed. [2] And having marked that moment of the
whole day when no one was inside, she took her seat
and called on the martyr, saying : " Bless my food, holy
Collythus, and accompany me with thy prayers on the
journey." Then having eaten and prayed again she went
home about sunset. And having given her mother
(-superior) a writing of Clement, author of the Stromateis,
on the prophet Amos, 2 she said : "Give it to the exiled
bishop s and say to him, Pray for me, for I am going on
a journey." And she died that very night, with no fever
nor pain in the head, but having decked herself for the
funeral.

. 2 Not mentioned elsewhere.

8 Palladius, the author.

MELANIA THE YOUNGER 167

CHAPTER LXI

MELANIA THE YOUNGER 1

[i] SINCE I promised above to tell about the (grand-)
daughter of Melania, I am constrained to pay the debt,
for it is not just that men should disdain her youthfulness
in respect of the flesh and leave on one side with no
pillar to commemorate it such great virtue, virtue which,
frankly, far surpasses that of old and zealous women.
Her parents by using compulsion made her marry a
man of the highest rank in Rome. Her conscience was
always being pricked by the tales she heard about her
grandmother, and (at last) she was so goaded that she
felt unable to perform her marriage duty, [2] For, two
male children having been born to her and both having
died, she came to have such great hatred of marriage as
to say to her husband Pinianus, son of Severus the ex-
prefect : " If you choose to practise asceticism with me
according to the fashion of chastity, then I recognise
you as master and lord of my life. But if this appears
grievous to you, being still a young man, take all my be-
longings and set my body free, that I may fulfil my desire
toward God and become heir of the zeal of my grand-
mother, whose name I also bear. [3] For if God had
wished us to have children, He would not have taken
away my children untimely." After they had struggled
under the yoke a long while, at last God had pity on the
young man and planted in him a zeal for renunciation,
so that the word of Scripture was fulfilled in their case :
" How knowest thou, O woman, that thou shalt save thy
husband?" 2 So having been married at thirteen and
having lived with her husband seven years, in the

1 See Butler's notes, II. 231-3, on Melania, and his illustrations
from the Vita Melanin Jun,
* i Cor. vii. 1 6.

168 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

twentieth year she renounced the world. And first she
gave her silk dresses to the altars : this the holy Olympias
has also done. [4] Then she cut up her other silks and
made them into different church ornaments. And
having entrusted her silver and gold to a certain Paul,
a priest, a monk of Dalmatia, she sent them across the
sea to the East, 10,000 pieces of money to Egypt
and the Thebaid, 10,000 pieces to Antioch and its
neighbourhood, 15,000 to Palestine, 10,000 to the
churches in the islands and the places of exile, while
she herself distributed to the churches in the West in
the same way. [5] All this and four times as much she
snatched, if God will allow the expression, " out of the
mouth of the lion J>1 Alaric by her faith. And she freed
8000 slaves who wished freedom, for the rest did not
wish it, but preferred to be slaves to her brother ; and
she allowed him to take them all for three pieces of
money. But having sold her possessions in the Spains,
Aquitania, Tarragonia and the Gauls, she reserved for
herself only those in Sicily and Campania and Africa
and appropriated their income for the support of monas-
teries. [6J Such was her wise conduct with regard to
the burden of riches. And her asceticism was as follows.
She ate every other day to begin with after a five days'
interval and assigned to herself a part in the daily work
of her own slavewomen, whom also she made her fellow-
ascetics.

She had with her also her mother Albina, who lived
a similar ascetic life and distributed her riches for her
part privately. Now these ladies are dwelling on their
properties, now in Sicily and now in Campania, with
fifteen eunuchs 2 and sixty virgins, both free and slave. 3

1 2 Tim. iv. 17.

2 Apparently to be interpreted literally ; but perhaps metaphori-
cally in allusion to Mt. xix. 12.

3 They were really at Bethlehem when Palladius wrote.

PAMMACHIUS 169

[7] Similarly also Pinianus her husband lives with thirty
monks, reading and busying himself with the garden
and solemn conferences, But in no small way did they
honour us when we, a numerous party, went to Rome
because of the blessed bishop John; 1 they refreshed
us both with hospitality and lavish equipment for the
journey, thus winning for themselves with great joy the
fruit of eternal life by their God-given works springing
from a noble mode of life.

CHAPTER LXII

PAMMACHIUS

A KINSMAN of theirs, Pammachius by name, an ex-
consul, renounced the world in like manner and lived
the perfect life. As for all his wealth, part of it he
distributed while still alive and the rest he left to the
poor at his death. Similarly also there was a certain
Macarius, an ex-vicar, 2 and Constantius, who became
assessor of the prefects . in Italy, distinguished and very
learned men, who reached the highest degree of the love
of God. I believe that they are still in the flesh after
practising the perfect life.

CHAPTER LXIII

THE VIRGIN AND ATHANASIUS 3

[i] I KNEW a virgin in Alexandria whom I met when
she was about seventy years old. Now all the clergy
bore her witness that when she was young, some twenty

1 405-

2 " At the head of each Dioecesis was placed an officer who bore
the name vicarius, except in the Eastern prefecture " (Reid).

3 Cf. Soz. V. 6,

170 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

years old, and exceptionally lovely, she was to be shunned
because of her beauty, lest she should make any one
an object of blame through suspicion. So when it
happened that the Arians conspired against the blessed
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, by means of Eusebius
the prefect, when Constantius was Emperor, and they
were calumniously accusing him of unlawful deeds, he
avoided being judged by a corrupt tribunal and trusted
no one, neither relation nor friend, nor cleric nor any
one, [2] But when the prefects men entered suddenly
into the episcopal residence and sought him, he fled at
midnight to this virgin, wearing only his tunic and cloak. 1
But she was disconcerted at the affair and frightened.
So he said to her: "Since I am sought by the Arians
and am unjustly accused, I resolved to flee, lest I should
bear a false reputation and involve in sin those who wish
to punish me. [3] But God revealed to me to-night :
1 With no one canst thou be saved except with this lady,' "
So with great joy she cast aside all hesitation and gave
herself wholly to the Lord ; and she hid that most holy
man for six years, 2 as long as Constantius lived, hoth
washing his feet herself and ministering to his bodily
requirements and arranging for all his needs, borrowing
books and bringing them to him, and no man in all
Alexandria during the six years knew where the blessed
Athanasius was living, [4] Now when the death of
Constantius was announced and came to his ears, he
dressed himself fittingly and was found once more by
night in the church ; and all were astonished and looked
on him as a dead man come to life. Now his defence
to his near friends was as follows : ** This is why I did
not take refuge with you, that you might the better

1 fttpiy ( = /fypoV). See note on XXXVII. 6.

2 See JD.C.J5., art. "Athanasius," for the history of the time.
Athanasius may have hid for a little while in a virgin's house, but
the story as it stands is tinhistorical.

JULIANA 171

swear (ignorance of my whereabouts), and also because
of the search. But I fled to one whom no one could
suspect, because she was beautiful and young, bearing
two things in mind, her salvation for I did help her
and my reputation."

CHAPTER LXIV

JULIANA

[i] AGAIN there was a certain Juliana, a virgin of
Caesarea in Cappadocia, said to be very learned and
most faithful. When Origen the writer fled from the
uprising of the pagans she received him, and supported
him for two years at her own cost and waited on him.
I found this written in a very old book of verses, in
which had been written by Origen's hand : [2] " I found
this book at the house of Juliana the virgin at Csesarea,
when I was hidden by her. She used to say that she
had received it from Symmachus himself, the Jewish
interpreter." 1

I have inserted the virtuous acts of these women as
part of my plan, that we may know that it is possible to
gain excellence in many ways, if we desire.

CHAPTER LXV

HIPPOLYTUS

[i] IN another very old book inscribed with the name
of Hippolytus, a disciple of the apostles, 2 I found this

1 Eus. H.E. VI. 17 tells the story in similar words. See Swete,
Intr. to theO.T. in Greek, pp. 49, 5- Symmachus lived towards
the end of the second century. The book probably would be the
Bible, arranged in trrlxot> lines or verses.

2 Nothing is known of this story from other sources, Hippolytus
was not, of course, yvapl/j.ov r&v airo<rrd\(ay.

i72 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

story. There lived in the city of Corinth a high-born
and most beautiful virgin who was practising asceticism
with a view to (a vow of) virginity. As the time for it
approached, they denounced her to the pagan who was
the magistrate then, at the time of the persecutors, that
is, as one who blasphemed both the times and the
emperors and spoke ill of the idols. At the same time
also those who traffic in such things were praising her
beauty. [2] So the magistrate, being erotic, received
the denunciation gladly, like a horse pricking up his
ears. And when after setting every device into operation
he failed to persuade the woman, then, furious with her,
he did not hand her over to punishment or torture, but
put her in a brothel and commanded the man who kept
the women: "Take her, and pay me three pieces of
money a day as her hire." But he, to earn the requisite
sum, intended to hand her over to all comers. So when
those who hunt women in this way like so many hawks
knew of it they visited this perdition-shop, and paying
the tariff talked to her the language of seduction. [3] But
she besought them with entreaties, saying : tc I have a
sore which is offensive, and I fear that you will hate me ;
give me a few days and you will get the chance of having
me for nothing." So she besought God with petitions
in those days. Wherefore also God beholding her chastity
inspired a certain young man in the employ of the
magister officiorum^ fair in character and appearance,
with a burning zeal for martyrdom. And having gone
off with all outward appearance of lust he came late at
night to the keeper of the women and gave him five
coins and said to him: "Allow me to spend this night
with her." [4] So he went in to the private chamber
and said to her: "Get up, save yourself." And he
made her take off her clothes and put his own on her,

VERUS THE EX-COUNT 173

both the vests and cloak and all his masculine apparel,
and said to her : " Veil yourself with the ends of the
cloak and go out." And so she sealed herself (with the
holy sign) and went out and was preserved uncorrupted
and undefiled. Next day, therefore, the deed was
known. The young official was arrested and thrown to
the wild beasts, in order that by him the demon might
be put to shame, in that he became a martyr in two
senses, both for his own sake and for the sake of that
blessed one.

CHAPTER LXVI

VERUS THE EX-COtJNT

[i] IN Ancyra of Galatia, in the actual city, I met a
certain Verus, a man of noble rank, and had consider-
able experience of him and his lady wife, Bosporia he
was an ex-count. 1 They attained such a degree of good
confidence that they defrauded even their children, con-
sidering the future in a practical manner. For they
spent the revenues of their estates on the poor, though
they have two daughters and four sons, to whom they
give no portion, except to the married daughter, saying :
"After we are gone all is yours." But receiving the
produce of their estates they spend them on the churches
of cities and villages. [2] And this, too, is a mark of
virtue in them. A famine having arisen, and militating
against natural affection, they brought heresies round to
orthodoxy, in many places putting their granaries at the
disposal of the poor for their feeding. But they have
adopted in other ways an exceedingly grave and sparing
manner of life ; they wear very cheap clothes and live

1 fy air& Koixhrw* Such expressions are common in Palladius.
They mean that the man had held the dignity mentioned, or that
he came of a family which had held it.

i 7 4 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

on the most frugal fare, practising a godly sobriety,
living for the most part on their farms and avoiding
cities, lest haply through the pleasures of the city they
should become involved in some of the city life and fall
from their purpose.

CHAPTER LXVII

MAGNA

[i] IN this city of Ancyra many other virgins, some
2000 or more, are eminent as women both of continence
and distinction. Among them Magna takes a prominent
place in religion, a most venerable woman ; I do not
know what to call her, virgin or widow. For having
been forcibly linked with a husband by her mother, she
wheedled him and put him off, so people say, and thus
remained inviolate. [2] When he died a little later
she gave herself wholly to God, attending in a serious
spirit to her own houses, living a most ascetic and con-
tinent Iife 3 having her conversation such that the very
bishops revered her for the excellence of her religion.
While she provided for the needs, primary and secondary,
of hospitals, the poor and bishops on tour, she ceased
not to work in secret with her own hands and by means
of her most faithful servants, and at nights she did not
leave the church.

CHAPTER LXVIII

THE COMPASSIONATE MONK

[i] LIKEWISE in the city we found a monk who pre-
ferred not to be ordained to the priesthood, but. had
been led to the life after a short period of military
service. He is spending his twentieth year in asceticism,

THE NUN WHO FELL 175

in the following fashion. He lives with the bishop of
the city, and is so humane and merciful that he goes
his rounds even at nights, and has pity on those who
are in need. [2] He neglects neither prison nor hos-
pital, poor nor rich, but succours all, giving some advice
about compassion, if without compassion ; leading others
onward; reconciling some and providing others with
their bodily needs and clothing. And what generally
happens in all great cities is found also in this one; for
in the porch of the church a multitude of sick people
laid on couches beg their daily food, some being married,
others unmarried. [3] Well, it happened one day that
the wife of a certain man was confined in the porch, at
midnight in winter-time. So he heard her crying out in
her pain, ahd abandoning his customary prayers went
out and beheld her ; finding no one he took the place
of a midwife himself, not disdaining the unpleasantness
of such occasions, compassion having made, him not
sensitive. [4] His clothes in appearance are not worth
an obol, and his food runs a good race with his clothes.
He cannot endure to lean over a writing-tablet since
compassion drives him from his studies. If any of the
brethren gives him a book, he immediately sells it,
answering thus to those who scoff at him : " How can
I persuade my Master that I have learned His art unless
I sell Him Himself 1 in order to practise the art
perfectly ? "

CHAPTER LXIX

THE NUN WHO FELL

[i] A CERTAIN virgin ascetic living with two others
practised asceticism for nine or ten years. Seduced by
a minstrel she fell and conceived and bore a child.
1 /. e, the gospel-book that tells of Christ.

176 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

Having come to hate her seducer intensely she was
conscience-smitten to the depths of her soul, and reached
such a degree of repentance that she completely lost
heart and tried to starve herself to death, [2] And in
her prayers she besought God, saying : " O great God,
Who hearest the evils of every creature, and desirest
neither the death nor destruction of those who stumble,
if Thou wishest me to be saved, show rne in this Thy
marvels, and take away the fruit of my sin which I have
borne, lest I employ a noose or fling myself over a
precipice." 1 Praying in these terms she was heard, for
her child died not long after. [3] So from that day
she never again met the man who had led her captive,
but giving herself to the severest fasting for thirty years
she served the sick and maimed. She importuned God
so, that it was revealed to one of the holy priests : u So-
and-so has pleased me more in her penitence than in
her virginity." I write this lest we should despise those
who genuinely repent.

CHAPTER LXX

A READER UNJUSTLY ACCUSED

[i] A VIRGIN once fell, the daughter of a certain
priest in Csesarea of Palestine, and was taught by her
seducer to accuse a certain reader in that city. And
when she was now with child, being cross-examined by
her father she denounced the reader. The priest con-
fidently referred the matter to the bishop, and the
bishop called his clergy together and had the reader
summoned. The case was investigated. The reader
was questioned by the bishop but would not confess.
For how could that he told which had not happened?

j. I do not understand this word.

A READER UNJUSTLY ACCUSED 177

[2] The bishop was angry and said to him sternly :
" Do you not confess, you miserable and wretched man,
full of uncleanness ? " The reader answered: "I said
the truth, that it is no concern of mine. For I am
guiltless even of a thought about her. But if you wish
to hear what is not true, then I have done it." When
he said this, the bishop deposed the reader. Then he
approached the bishop and besought him and said to
him: "Well then, since I have fallen, bid her to be
given me as wife. For neither am I a cleric any more
nor is she a virgin. 1 [3] So he gave her over to the
reader, expecting that the young man would live with
her, and that besides his intercourse with her could not
be interrupted. Now the young man having taken her
both from the bishop and her father put her in a
nunnery and exhorted the deaconness of the sisterhood
there to support her until her confinement. So within
a little while the days of her confinement were com-
pleted. The critical hour came with groans, pangs,
labours, visions of hell and the babe was not delivered.
[4] The first day passed, the second, third, seventh.
The woman being in hell with the pain did not eat,
drink, or sleep, but cried out, saying : " Woe is me,
miserable woman that I am, I am in peril because I
accused this reader falsely." The nuns go off and tell
the father. The father, fearing to be condemned as a
false accuser, keeps silence two more days. The young
woman neither died nor was delivered. So when the
nuns could no longer endure her cries they ran and told
the bishop : " So-and-so has confessed in her cries days
ago that she accused the reader falsely." Then he
sends deacons to him and tells him : " Pray that she

1 It is implied that marriage was impossible even to one in minor
orders. Priests' children, born probably before ordination, are
mentioned in XXXVIII. 2, XLI. 4, LXX. I.

M

178 THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

who accused you falsely may be delivered," [5] But
he gave them no answer nor opened his door, but from
the day he entered his house he had been praying to
God. The father went away again to the bishop;
prayers were said in the church, and not even then did
she bring forth. Then the bishop arose and went to
the reader and knocking at the door went in to him
and said to him: " Existathius, arise, loose what you
have fastened/' And immediately the reader knelt down
with the bishop and the woman brought forth.

Now his pleading and the persistency of his prayer
were strong enough both to reveal the false accusation
and to chastise the false accuser; that we may learn
to persevere in prayers and to know their power.

CHAPTER LXXI

THE BROTHER WHO IS WITH THE WRITER 1

[i] And now, when I have said a few words about
the brother who has been with me from youth until this
day, I will end my tale. I know that for a long time
he has not eaten from desire nor fasted from desire. I
consider that he has conquered desire of riches, the
greatest part of vainglory. He is satisfied with what
he has, he does not deck himself out with clothes, when
despised he gives thanks, he runs risks for his close
friends, he has engaged in contests with demons a
thousand times and more; so that one day a demon
tried to make an agreement with him and said : " Agree
to sin just once, and whatever woman you mention to
me in the world I will bring her to you." [2] And
again on another occasion, after buffeting him for four-
teen nights, as he told me, and dragging him by the feet

1 A transparent device by which Palladius speaks about himself.

THE BROTHER WHO IS WITH THE WRITER 179

in the night he conversed with him audibly : " Cease
worshipping Christ and I will not come near you." But
he answered and said; "This is why I worship Him
and will glorify Him infinitely and adore Him, because
you are utterly distasteful to me when I am thus en-
gaged." He has visited 106 cities and stayed in most
of them, but by God's mercy he has had nothing to do
with a woman, not even in a dream, except for this
contest. [3] I know that he received from an angel
on three occasions the food he needed. One day,
being in the inner desert and having not even a crumb,
he found three loaves in his sheepskin still warm.
Another time he found wine and loaves. Yet another
time I learned that some one said this to him: "You
are fainting ; go then and receive from these men food
and oil." So he went to the man to whom this man
had sent him and said : " Are you so-and-so ? " And
he said: "Yes; some one has ordered you to receive
thirty bushels of corn and twelve pints of oil." On
behalf "of such a one I will glory," 1 whoever he was.
I have known him often weep over men distressed by
dire poverty, and he gave them all that he had except
his flesh. I have known him also weep over one who
had fallen into sin, and by his tears he led the fallen
one to repentance. He once assured me on oath : " I
prayed God that I might incite no man, especially the
rich and wicked, to give me anything for my needs."

[5] But for me it is enough to have been counted
worthy of mentioning all these things which I have
committed to writing. For it was not without God that
your thought was stirred up to enjoin the writing of this
book and the committal to writing of the lives of these

1 2 Cor. xii. 5, the passage which has suggested this literary
device.

i8o THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

saints. But you at least, most faithful servant of God,
reading them with pleasure and accepting their lives and
toils and so great endurance as a fitting demonstration
of the resurrection, follow them eagerly, nourished with
good hope, seeing the days in front of you to be shorter
than those behind, [6] Pray for rne, keeping yourself
such as I knew you from the consulate of Tatian until
this day and such as I found you when you had been
chosen to be prefect of the most religious bedchamber.
For a man whom such honour accompanied by riches
and such power have not made incapable of the fear of
God, such a one reposes on that Christ Who was told
by the devil : " All these things will I give Thee if Thou
wilt fall down and worship me." l

1 Mi iv, 9.

INDICES

GENERAL

ACCIDIE, 43, 45, 53, 71* 9 1

Aelia (= Jerusalem), 160

Africa, 168

Agape, 24, 72

Akhmim, 107

Alexandria, passim

Ancyra, i73f.

Angels, 38

Antinoe, 127? ^63 f.

Antioch, 84, 142, 168

Antiphonal singing, 143

Aquileia, 148

Ascalon, 160

Asceticism in the early Church,

20

Asia Minor, 20, 22
Asyut, 120
Athens, 128
Athos, S3
Athribe", 109
Atripe", 109

Babylon (old Cairo), 91
Bethany, 145
Bethlehem, 127, 141, 168
Bible, use of, 24, 52, 60, 65,

107, 149 f.
Bithynia, 16, 124
Blemmyes, 116

Csesarea (Cappadocia), 133, 171
Csesarea (Palestine), 176
Campania, 168

Cappadocia, 38, 117, 133, 171
Catholic Church, 39
Cellia, 1 6, 77, 106, 136!

Climax, 107

Communion, 24, 76, 85, 104 f.,

108, 113, 118, 165
Confession, 58, 83, 87, 107, 177
Constantinople, 30, 65, 133 f.
Corinth, 172
Cross, sign of, 50, 113
Cyrenaica, 103

Dalmatia, 141, 1 68

Dead Sea, 156

Dead, services and prayers for,

24,95, 8, 166
Denderah, 112
Diocffisarea, 147
Doukas (Dok), 154

Easter, 8 1
Edessa, 139, 142
Egypt, passion
Epiphany, 137
Ethiopia, 57
Excommunication, 118

Galatia, 16, 145, 173
Gaul, 168
Greece, 128

Helenopolis, 16
Heracles, 91
Hermopoli?:, 62
Hospitals, 55 f., 174

181

Ibora, 133
Italy, 22, 169

l82

INDICES

Jericho, 154, 157

Jerusaleoi, 16, 93 , 108, 143,

146, 148
Jordan,

Lazarus, tomb of, 145
Lent, 77, So t, 143
Libya, 40, 62
Libyan desert, 80
Lyco, 120
Lycopolis, 120
Lyons, 6 1

Manichseans, 44, 130
Mareotis (Maria), Lake, 57, 103
Marmarica, 103
Martyr chapels, 65, 146, 166
Mauretania, 57
Mazicse, 57
Memphis, 125
Mesopotamia, 40
Monasticism, apology for, 26 f,
- origin of, 21

Naples, 158
Natron, Wady, 57
Niciopolis, 125
Nile, 61,87, inf., 164

Oil, holy, 24, 66, 80, 84
Olives, Mount of, 16, 143 f.
Ordination, 64 f.
Origenism, 17
Oxyrhyncus, 136

Pabau, 82, 115

Palestine, 15, 24, 40,124,147^

168

Panopolis/109
Pelusium, 160
Persecutions, 21, 50!

Persia, 158
Pherme, 90
Philadelphia, 22
Phoenice, 149

Pilgrimages, 15, 41, 146, 148
Pispir, 91
Poemenion, 125
Pontus, 133
Porphyntes, 118, 125

Red Sea, 91, 100
Relics, 145
Rome, passim
Rosary, 24, 90

Saints, invocation of, 24, 166
Sarapis, u monks'' of, 23
Saturday, 58, 68, 90, 121, 155
Scete, 23, 80, 88 f., 101, 106,

149

Sicily, 158, 168
Sinai, Mount, 70
Solitudes, the, 48
Spain, 67, 1 68
Sparta, 130
Syene, 16, 40
Syria, 40

Tabennisi, 23, 40, 59, 77, 82,

112 f.

Tarragona, 168
Teetotalism, 17, 43 f.
Textual problems, 17 f,
Theadelphia, 22
Thebaid, 16, 40, 72, 82, 95, 112,

121, 124, 163
Thessalonica, 80
Tismenae, 112

Vows, monastic, 43
Water, holy, 24, 74

INDICES

183

II

PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE LAUSIAC HISTORY

(SCRIPTURE characters are not included. A number in brackets
denotes that the person will be found in the Dictionary of Chris-
tian Biography, Thus "Elias (35)" means that this man is the
thirty-fifth among the persons of that name mentioned in the
Dictionary, (i) denotes that the person is the first or only one
mentioned. The identifications, when doubtfulj are marked with a
query.)

Ablavius (i), 162

Abramius, 157 f.

Adelphius (? 2), 147

Adolia(?i), 141

Adolius, 143

Aenesius, 155

Alaric (i), 168

Albanius, 106, 150

Albina (i), 159, 168

Alexandra, 53 f.

Alypius, 122

Amatas, 91

Amma Talis. See Talis

Ammonius the Tall or Parotes

(i), 62 f., 64 f., 103, 147 f-
Amoun (i, = Aminon), 59 f.
Antony (i), 50, 52, 59, 61, 64,

91, 93 f., 97 f., 103, 149
Aphthonius, 115
Apollonius (?), 67
Apronianus, 142, 159
Arsisras (r, Arsesius), 57, 59,

147

Asella, 142
Asion, 57

Athanasius (i), 48, 52, 61, 170
Avita, 142, 159

Basianilla, 141

Basil of Csesarea (i), 133, 146,

161

Benjamin (i), 66
Bosporia, 173

Candida, 162
Candidianus (?2), 142
Capiton (8, = Capito), 164

Chaeremon (3), 150
Chronius, 149 f.
Chrysostom. See John
Clement of Alexandria (i), 1 66
Collythus (r, = Colluthus), 166
Constantius the emperor (i),

144, 170

Constantius the prefect, 169
Cronius (2, ? = Chronius), 57,

91 f., 96

Demetrius (? 10), 48

Didymus (i), 51 f., 65

Diocles, 163

Diogenes, 43

Dionysius, 125

Dioscorus the Tall (4), 62, 66,

147

Domninus, 131
Dorotheus of Antinoe, 163
Dorotheus of Athribe (8), no
Dorotheus, a Theban ascetic, 48 f.
Dracontius (?2), 62

Elias of Athribe' (35), 109 f.
Elias of Palestine (37), 157
Elpidius (30), 154 f.
Ephraim Syrus (4), 139 f..
Eucarpius, 150
Eugenius, 121
Eulogius, 92 f.
Eunomia, 142
Eusebius the Tall (117), 62
Eusebius the prefect, 170
Eustathius the reader (48), 178
Eustathius of Jericho, 155
Eustochium (i), 141

1 84

INDICES

Euthymius the Tall (3), 62
Evagrius (12), 65 f., 103, 1 06,
121 L, 132 f., 150

Gaddanas, 156 f.
Gelasia (i), 163

Gregory Nazianzen (14), 133,
161

Heron, 106 f., 150
Hesychas, 141
Hierax, 96
Hippolytus (2), 171
Hosia(i, = U&ia), 141

Innocent (? 12), 144 f.
Isaias, 67 f.

Isidore the hospitaller of Alex-
andria (28), 47 f.
Isidore of Hermopolis (4), 147
Isidore of Scete, 88 f.
Isidore (identity uncertain), 62

Jacob the Lame (33), 149

Jerome, 126, 141

John Chrysoslom (i), 124, 142,

169

John of Lycopolis (487), 120 f.
John, disciple of Macarius, 74
Jovinus 1 60

Julian of Edessa (104), 142
Julian the Emperor (103), 52,

146
Juliana ( i ), 171

Lausus(3), 36f.,42

Macarius of Alexandria (17),

73, 77 f., 104 f.
Macarius of Egypt (17, "almost

indistinguishable " from the

above), 73 f.

Macarius, an ex- vicar (?23), 169
Macarius the hospitaller (18),

55 f-

Macarius of Pispir (16), 91, 93 f.
Macarius the Younger (19), 69 f.
Magna, 174
Marcellinus (5), 147
Marcus (? 13), 85

Maximianus (i), 50

Maximus (2), 121

Melania the Elder (i), 53, 61 f.,

85, 135, 147, 158 f., 161, 163
Melania the Younger (2), 159,

163, 167 f-

Moses the Libyan, 138 f.
Moses the robber, 86 f.

Nathanael (i), 70 f.
Nebridius (i), 162
Nectarius (4), 133

Olympias (2), 161 f., 1 68
Or (i, = Hor), 61
Origen the steward, 62 f.
Origen the writer (i), 65, 131,

161, 171
Oxyperentius, 126

Pachomius (i), 59, 8 1 f, 1 12 f.
Pachon (i, = Pacho), 101 f.
Paesius, 67, 69
Pambo(i), 62 f., 68 f., 147
Pammachius (i), 167
Paphnutius (? 5, 6), 85, 147 f.
Paphnutius Kephalas (?5, 6),

J 49

Paphnutius, disciple of Maca-
rius, 85

Paul of Dalmatia (57), 168

Paul of Pherme (78), 90 f.

Paul the Simple (74), 96 f.

Paul, son of Innocent, 144

Paula (2), 126

Paulinus (?6), 148

Peter, an Egyptian, 126

Philoromus, 145 f.

Photina, 142

Piamoun (r, == Piainon), in f.

Pierius (i), 65, 161

Pinianus (2), 159, 167, 169

Pior(i), 64, 138 f.

Pisimius, 147

Piteroum (i, = Pitiroum), 118 f.

Plato, 43

Poemenia, 124

Posidonius (i), 125 f,

Potamiaena (i), 50 f,

INDICES

185

Poutoubastes (i, = Putubastes),

57

Ptolemy, 107 f., 150
Publicola (i), 159
Pythagoras, 43

Rufmus of Aquileia (3), 148
Rufinus the prefect (2), 160

Sabas (3, = Sabbatius), 157

Sabiniana, 142

Sarapion the Great (12, = Sera-

pion), 57. 147
Sarapion the Sindonite (n,

= Serapion), 127 f.
Seleucus, 161
Severus, 167
Silvania (i), 160
Simeon, 126
Sisinnius, 156

Solomon (r, = Salomon), 163
Stephen the Libyan (31), 103 f.
Stephen the profligate, 150
Stephen the writer, 65, 161

Symmachus (2), 171

Tails (Amma), 165

Taor (i), 165 f.

Tatian the Consul (?4), 180

Theoctistus, 142

Theodora (7), 141

Theodoras, disciple of Amoun

(67), 61

Theodore of Lycopolis (74), 122
Theodosius the emperor (2),

47, 121

Theosebius, 84

Timothy of Alexandria (7), 64
Timothy the Cappadocian (4),

154

Toxotius (2), 141
Trajan (2), 162

Valens the emperor (5), 147
Valens, a monk, 105 f., 150
Vallovicus, 141
Veneria, 141
Verus, 173 f.

Ill
REFERENCES TO ANCIENT WRITERS

Gen. iii. I

PAGE
153

Eccl. vii. 7, 1 6

PAGE

. 106

Lev. xvi. 10 f.

27

Cant

. iii. II .

59

xxi. 17 f.

65

Isa. xxxiv. 14 . * ,

. 27

2 Kings v. 27 .

74

>

Ixi. 10

59

Job vi. 6 .

153

Ezek. xvi. 12 .

59

xl. 3 .

153

Dan.

iii. .

. IOO

Psalm v. 6 (7) .

73

Wisd. iv. 13 .. . 133

, xxiii. (xxiv.) 3, 4 .

55

Ecclus. viii. 9 .

. 41

, xiix. (1.) 16 .

152

, 3

xix. 30

. 46

, xc. (xci.) 10 .
, ciii (civ. ) 20 .

74

102

I Mace. xvi. 15
St. Matt. iv. 9

: its

, cxviii. (cxix.) 66 .

152

v. 5 . ' .

51

, cxlv. (cxlvi.) 8

52

vii. 1 6

- 45

Prov. ix. 12 ..

164

ix. n

44

xi. 14 ...

108

xi. 7

77

xii. 17 ..

101

xi. 18, 19.

- 44

,, xxiv. 27 .

41

xi. 29

39

,, xxxi. 8 .

41

xii. 43 ,

* 27

i86

INDICES

St. Matt. xvii. 7 .

PAGE
8 5

PAGE

i St. Jn. ii. 1 8 . 20, 159

xviii, 24 .

. 42

V. 21.

20

xix. 12

. 168

xix. 24

. 141

A eta S. Perpetuae .

136

xxi. 32 .

. 44

Athanasius, Vit. Ant. 12 .

91

SO

lark ii. 18.

. 44

i) 49 > 5

91

vii. 3

. 160

60 59,61

xii, 42

63

,, ,, 91

91

St. I

uke i. 3 .

. 40

ii. 3

22

Basil, de ludicio Dei,

v. 30

. 44

214 E .

155

v. 31

. 122

Basil, Ep. 24 .

154

ix. 12

. 123

258,259.

140

ix. 23

. 69

291

154

x.34

. 92

xiit. 15

, 72

Cassian, Coll. I. 21 .

120

xiv. 5

, 72

, V. 12

xiv. 27

. 6 9

" , XIV. 4 .

55

xviii. 22 .

69

XXIV. 26 .

120

xviii. 43 .

85

Inst.I. .

113

XXI. 2

St. John v. 14 .
Acts xv, 20
Rom. i. 21, 26, 28 .

63
. 154
. 162

154

IV. .
IV. 23-26 .
Chrysostom Horn, in
Matt. viii. .

"5

120

J 5

,, xii. 8 .

*5 J

i Clement, 38 .

20

,, xiv. 23 .
I Cor. iii. 18 .

. 44
. 118

Clement of Alexandria,
Paed. III. 5

27

, vi. 9 .
, vii. 9 ,

45
. 88

Cyprian, de Hob Virg. 19

27

, vii. 16 .

. 167

Didache 6 ...

2O

, vii. 29 .

20

, ix. 25 .
, xv. 32 .
2 Cor. xii. 5 .

xii. 7 .

. 45
159

. 179

Eusebius, Comm. in Ps.
Ixxxiii. 4 .
Demon. Evang.

21

Gal. i. 10
i. 18

. 132

42

1.9

Hist.EccLVJ.s

30
50

,, iii. 28

V. 22 . * .

. 156
* 45

VI. 17

VI. 42

171
21

,, vi. 14

131

Eph. iv. 26

. 163

Gennadius, de vir. ittust. 7

Phil. i. 23

41

112,

"5

2 Thess. iii. 8 .

. 63

>j II

130

i Tim. i. 9

43

Gregory of Nyssa, in XL,

,, vi. 20 .

7
. 161

Mart

133

2 Tim. iv. 17 .

. 168

Heb. xi. 32 .

. 47

Historia Monachorum,

,, xii. 16 .

. 162

prol. 10

86

i St. Pet. v. 13

91

Historia Monachorum, I.

1 20

INDICES

PAGE

187

PAGE

Historia Monachorum,

Sozomen, Hist. EccL 1. 12 21

XVII

118

n

1. 14 59

Historia Monachorum,

III. 14

XXIII.

57

57, 73> 77, 90,

Historia Monachorum,

112, 142

XXVIII. .

73

,,

HI. 15 51

Historia Monachorum,

,,

JII.I6 139

XXIX.

59

jj

V.6 . 169

Historia Monachorum,

VI. 29

XXX

73

66,69,85,86,90,

101, 103, 138

Ignatius, ad Polyc, 5

20

,,

VI. 30

,, Rom. 5 .

159

57,64,132,133

s,

VI. 34 156

Jerome, de vir. ill^t. 109

51

,

VII. 19 72

E'b- 24 .

131

J J

VIII. 2 47

" Vita Pauli

21

VIII. 12

>>

47,62

Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 29
147,

159

Sulpitius
III. 8 .

Severus, Dial.
. 70

Rufmus, Apol. II. 26

147

Tertullian,

, de Coy. 13 . 59

Socrates, Hist. Eccl. IV.

5J

de Idol. . 20

23 . - 59, 64, 13 2 ,

137

Theodoret

., Hist. EccL

Socrates, Hist. Eccl. IV. 25

51

III. 24

. 52

V 22

72

Theodoret

., ffist, EccL

\\ ' VI. 9

4 6

IV. 26 .

- 5*

IV
MODERN WRITERS

Bardenhewer, 133
Bliss, 59

Budge, 34, 41, 68, 96
Butler, passim

Cabrol, 33

Clarke, 20, 33, 43, 53, 117

Duchesne, 20, 33, 47, 57, 5
du Due, 1 8

Gibbon, 121, 160
Gurney, 59

Hannay, 20
Herbert, George, 117

Jackson, 43

Kingsley, 29
Krottenthaler, 33, 128

Ladeuze, 33, 112-117
Leclercq, 33
Lightfoot, 67

Lucot, viii. 32, 34, 53, 62, in,
129

i88 INDICES

Mitteis-Wilcken, 22, 75, in, Schiirer, 78 ^

122 Scott-Moncrieff, 18

Maclean, 72 Sethe, 23

Morin, 28 Sophocles, 84, 119

Swete, 171
Newman, 29

Tennyson, 27

Paget, 43 Tillemont, 18, 149

Preuschen, 18, 19, 23 Turner, 32, 34, 49, 53, 78, n

Ramsay, 155 W * 33 ' ^ l6

Reid, 38, 141, 169

Reitzenstein, 23, 25, 56, 96, 119, Weingarten, 17

127, 128
Robinson, 53
Rosweyd, 17-19 Zockler, 33, 133

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